4 of the 5 best-selling games in May were Microsoft-published

In the past 5 years or so, Microsoft has swallowed up quite a significant chunk of the video games industry, with the two biggest examples being Zenimax Media in 2020 and of course Activision Blizzard. Given how many fingers it has across the metaphorical video game pie, it comes as little surprise that 4 of the top 5 best-selling games in May were all published by Microsoft.

Taking to BlueSky, industry analyst Matt Piscatella (of Circana) shared the top 20 best-selling games of May 2025 in the US (based on dollar sales).

While new entrant Elden Ring: Nightreign took the top spot for the month, positions 2-5 were all published by Microsoft:

1. Elden Ring: Nightreign
2. Doom: The Dark Ages
3. Forza Horizon 5
4. The Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion
5. Call of Duty: Black Ops 6

In case you missed it, the Oblivion Remaster is currently the 2nd-best-selling game of 2025 so far; and so it continuing to sit near the top of the charts makes sense. In addition, Forza Horizon 5 recently released on PlayStation 5 – likely boosting its sales across the board.

Doom: The Dark Ages meanwhile was the long awaited 3rd entry in the rebooted DOOM trilogy. Though it failed to beat Nightreign, very few franchises can take on FromSoftware in today’s day-and-age post-Elden Ring.

Last but certainly not least, Black Ops 6 is the newest entry in the never-ending Call of Duty cash-cow – and so of course it remains in the top 5 despite being more than halfway through its lifecycle.

All in all, it is interesting to see Microsoft’s various acquisitions all coming together now and being positioned so close together on the sales charts. That said, with them owning Call of Duty, there will likely never be a month where Microsoft isn’t in the top 5 from this point forth.

KitGuru says: What do you think of May’s best-sellers? Are you surprised by the Microsoft representation? How long do you think Nightreign will remain at no.1? Let us know down below.

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