Mortal Kombat 11, SSBU Among the Best Selling Games of 2021

2021 was undoubtedly a good year for fighting games. Yes, there is still a pandemic that has made offline tournaments something of a hazard, but the larger viewership, better netplay options, and more exciting tournaments cannot be discarded. Therefore, it is fair to say that 2021 was not a bad year for the FGC. 

Now in 2022, we have even better news, and that is that both Mortal Kombat 11 and Super Smash Bros. Ultimate are among the top 20 highest selling games of 2021. In a report found on gameindustry.biz, it is revealed that the gaming industry made a killing in 2021 with over $60 billion spent on video games in the USA alone. This represented an 8% increase from the year before and shows that video games are more viable than ever. 

Even so, the idea has always been that fighting games are a lot more niche, but it is becoming clearer that the FGC is going more mainstream nowadays. This is evidenced by exciting games on the horizon like Project L and also the larger viewing numbers that fighting games are starting to record. 

On the top 20 list, Super Smash Bros. Ultimate and Mortal Kombat 11 were 17th and 19th, respectively. Below is the complete list:

• Call of Duty: Vanguard
• Call of Duty: Black Ops: Cold War
• Madden NFL 22
• Pokemon: Brilliant Diamond/Shining Pearl
• Battlefield 2042
• Marvel's Spider-Man: Miles Morales
• Mario Kart 8
• Resident Evil: Village
• MLB: The Show 21
• Super Mario 3D World
• Far Cry 6
• FIFA 22
• Minecraft
• Animal Crossing: New Horizons
• NBA 2K22
• Assassin's Creed: Valhalla
• Super Smash Bros. Ultimate
• Back 4 Blood
• Mortal Kombat 11
• Forza Horizon 5

Sometime last year, Mortal Kombat 11 celebrated selling over 12 million copies overall making it arguably the best selling MK game of all time. In that same time, Super Smash Bros. Ultimate has sold over 15 million copies. What makes their latest feat all the more impressive is that Smash came out back in 2018 and Mortal Kombat 11 was released a year later. It is great that even after two to three years, the game still retains a great level of popularity with its player base. 

Mortal Kombat 11 might be drawing to a close, but with this boost, we can anticipate that the next project will be even bigger and more impressive than anything before it.