The Game Awards nominees by copies sold
Alinea Analytics copies sold estimates (and more) for the game of the year nominees, including Expedition 33, Silksong, and Kingdom Come Deliverance 2. What a year!
No matter how you look at it, 2025 will go down in the books as one of gaming’s best years ever – in terms of content, anyway.
We’ve seen new IP galore, returns to form for ailing franchises, AAA sequels that expand on their predecessors (then some), and one of indie gaming’s best years to date.
Our poor backlogs.
The 2025 game of the year nominees
Choosing six games that fit the bill for ‘’game of the year’’ is no easy feat, but The Game Awards’ panel of judges (100+ media outlets and influencers) have landed on a fantastic list:
While we’ve had the usual tantrums online (‘’x game was snubbed😭‘’) – usually from grown men, mind you – it’s worth remembering that this year has been an all-timer.
The results were probably tight.
We’ll learn who wins game of the year and the other categories when The Game Awards airs on December 11.
Obviously, the nominees have resonated with gamers and sold well. Our estimates show that together, the nominees have sold well over 20M copies. Let’s dive in.
Silksong leads the pack for copies sold
Here’s how well the GOTY nominees have sold this year across Steam, PlayStation, and Xbox:
Hollow Knight: Silksong (Sep 4) has sold 5.5M copies, 1M via console. Our Game Pass data (yes, we have that – reach out for a trial!) shows that 2M players accessed Silksong via Game Pass (console or PC). Overall, Silksong is approaching $100M in revenue. It’s an edge case and a case study for the industry, finding indie success due to a strong fanbase, the mystique of years of anticipation, and obviously: delivering on one of the best Metroidvania games to date. Our full Silksong write-up
Expedition 33 (April 24) has sold 5.3M copies, including around 3M on Steam, 1.8M on PS5, and 500K+ on Xbox (3M gamers accessed Expedition 33 via Game Pass). Expedition 33’s success flies in the face of the ‘‘modern JRPGs don’t work’’ platitude, highlighting that there was a gap in the market all along. Expedition 33’s success wasn’t surprising to us at Alinea, as our data showed over 500K Steam wishlists well before launch. Strong reviews, influencer buzz, word-of-mouth, high production quality, and a lower price point pushed it even further. Our full Expedition 33 blog
Kingdom Come Deliverance 2 (Feb 4) is nearing 4M copies sold across Steam, PlayStation, and Xbox, with almost 2/3 coming from Steam. Warhorse announced that KCD2 reached 4M last week (including Epic and Windows). KCD2’s immersive sandbox RPG gameplay, deep systemic design, and focus on player agency resonated with players and reviewers. Less than half of KCD2 players on Steam played the original. And around 5% of Steam KCD2 players are based in Czechia (6% on PS5) – a lot more than usual, as the game was made by a Czech studio and is set in 15th-century Bohemia. Read our full KCD2 write-up
Hades 2, which launched in early access in May 2024 and hit 1.0 on Sep 25 2025, has sold almost 3M copies since its early-access period. Hades 2 builds on the roguelike mechanics and rich mythological trappings that helped the first game go down in history as one of the best indies of all time. Supergiant again built strong trust with its community through a well-managed Early Access, delivering frequent updates and listening to feedback. Hades 2 still pulls in 100K players on Steam every day. Learn more about Hades 2’s 1.0 launch
Death Stranding 2, which launched on June 26 on PS5 only, has been a hit among critics, but sales are below other PlayStation Studios titles. I loved DS2 for refining its predecessor’s formula with more polished traversal, stealth/combat mechanics, and a deeply emotional, very Kojima story. A quarter of DS2’s players are in China, yet Steam is more prevalent in China than PS5. The inevitable Steam port will extend DS2’s product lifecycle significantly. PlayStation Studios’ PC ports also typically boost copies sold on PS5. We saw this earlier this year with the Steam port of Stellar Blade, which is also popular in China.
Viewers generally tune into the Game Awards – despite its name – to see Keighley’s curated roster of game trailers and announcements.
Following the show, we’ll be diving into the games that attracted the most hype, wishlists, and Steam followers during the event. Hit subscribe below to get that data and analysis in your inbox as soon as it’s ready.
Wait a minute – there’s a GOTY nominee we didn’t cover yet!
Oh! Banana!
While our current copies sold data focuses on Steam, PlayStation, and Xbox (for now 👀), we can’t skip over Switch 2-exclusive Donkey Kong Bananza. As per Nintendo’s financial reporting, Bananza sold 3.49M copies as of September 30.
The Switch 2 had sold 10.36M units at that point, so Bananza has an attach rate of 34%. This is the start of DK’s comeback story, and its broad family appeal and Nintendo’s evergreen sales pattern will help Banaza maintain momentum well beyond launch. More immediately, we’ve got the holidays to come.
When all is said and done, Banaza will have outsold Donkey Kong Country’s 9.3M copies sold to become the best-selling Donkey Kong game ever.
Nintendo is clearly positioning Donkey Kong as a core franchise again through a coordinated push across games, film, and theme-park attractions to expand its IP visibility and funnel folks towards their games:
Theme parks: The new Donkey Kong Country expansion in Super Nintendo World puts DK alongside Mario as a theme-park pillar.
Movies: DK’s prominent role and refreshed design in The Super Mario Bros. Movie strengthened DK’s visibility with mainstream audiences.
Premier studio: Nintendo assigned Donkey Kong Bananza to one of its premier internal teams, the Mario Odyssey one, also signalling a long-term ambition for the series.
By better aligning DK’s design across media and backing him with a top-tier game, Nintendo is rebuilding Donkey Kong into a flagship brand, hoping to put DK in the same conversation (and revenue) as Mario and Zelda.
Other insights, links, and cool stuff
Want us to cover a game of your choice in Friday’s edition? Shoot me a DM!
We spoke to IGN last week about GTA VI’s delay and its impact on the market. “That wave of new console owners – and their spending – has now been pushed deeper into 2027.” Read the full article for more insights and quotes.
Our friends at GameSpot covered our Steam Machine analysis here and here. We also did an interview with Eurogamer on the new console-like PC, which TheGamer also covered.
TweakTown and wccftech (legends) covered our data on Steam’s 2025 revenues from last week’s Thursday newsletter.
NGL, it’s been lush seeing Alinea grow into the most quoted games data company in such a small space of time.
If you’re after data or commentary for an article, let us know. We’re always happy to help where we can.
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good analysis, as always!