The tables below show the top selling titles for our most popular formats for 8-bit computers. The source is the original database of sales that I compiled when in charge of Mastertronic’s accounting systems. Sadly the sales figures from Mastertronic Inc, for North America, are not available and so the rankings and sales figures are those for Mastertronic UK sales only (which include exports to Europe and beyond)
The figures have been adjusted to reflect multipacks and bundling deals, as far as possible. Sales on disk are included, however the vast majority of 8-bit sales were on tape.
My data goes from the start of trading on 1st April 1984 to 30 April 1991; however the data for 1991 is patchy.
The following tables are on this page
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The Top 40 – Best sellers by number of units sold per title, across all formats and for both 8 and 16 bit
BEST SELLING TITLES – ALL FORMATS TOP 40
| Rank | Sales (000s) | Title |
| 1 | 568 | FORMULA 1 SIMULATOR |
| 2 | 450 | GHOSTBUSTERS |
| 3 | 349 | BMX RACERS |
| 4 | 334 | DOUBLE DRAGON |
| 5 | 331 | FINDERS KEEPERS |
| 6 | 310 | VEGAS JACKPOT |
| 7 | 304 | SPEED KING |
| 8 | 295 | KIKSTART 2 |
| 9 | 291 | KIKSTART |
| 10 | 282 | CHILLER |
| 11 | 269 | KANE |
| 12 | 253 | ACTION BIKER |
| 13 | 220 | 180 |
| 14 | 216 | ONE MAN & HIS DROID |
| 15 | 210 | MOLECULE MAN |
| 16 | 209 | NINJA |
| 17 | 207 | FEUD |
| 18 | 198 | STORM |
| 19 | 188 | SPECTIPEDE |
| 20 | 184 | WAY OF THE EXPLODING FIST |
| 21 | 180 | MILK RACE |
| 22 | 167 | MASTER CHESS |
| 23 | 162 | L A SWAT |
| 24 | 152 | SPELLBOUND |
| 25 | 144 | ROCKMAN |
| 26 | 143 | THE ADVENTURES OF BIG MAC |
| 27 | 133 | LAST V8 |
| 28 | 130 | VIDEO POKER |
| 29 | 125 | NONTERRAQUEOUS |
| 30 | 124 | THE CURSE OF SHERWOOD |
| 31 | 123 | SQUIRM |
| 32 | 121 | HEKTIK |
| 33 | 121 | SPACE WALK |
| 34 | 112 | SOUL OF A ROBOT |
| 35 | 102 | DUCK SHOOT |
| 36 | 101 | HYPERBOWL |
| 37 | 99 | BUMP SET SPIKE |
| 38 | 99 | SPEED KING 2 |
| 39 | 97 | 1985 |
| 40 | 96 | COLONY |
| C64 TOP 20 | |
| 1 | GHOSTBUSTERS |
| 2 | KIKSTART |
| 3 | DOUBLE DRAGON |
| 4 | BMX RACERS |
| 5 | CHILLER |
| 6 | KIKSTART 2 |
| 7 | SPEED KING |
| 8 | FORMULA 1 SIMULATOR |
| 9 | ACTION BIKER |
| 10 | KANE |
| 11 | VEGAS JACKPOT |
| 12 | 1985 |
| 13 | BMX TRIALS |
| 14 | FINDERS KEEPERS |
| 15 | 180 |
| 16 | WING COMMANDER |
| 17 | LAST V8 |
| 18 | HUNTER PATROL |
| 19 | LA SWAT |
| 20 | HUMAN RACE |
| C16 TOP 20 | |
| 1 | FORMULA 1 SIMULATOR |
| 2 | BMX RACERS |
| 3 | VEGAS JACKPOT |
| 4 | KIKSTART |
| 5 | TUTTI FRUTTI |
| 6 | SPEED KING |
| 7 | BIG MAC |
| 8 | ROCKMAN |
| 9 | SQUIRM |
| 10 | SPECTIPEDE |
| 11 | MR PUNIVERSE |
| 12 | STREET OLYMPICS |
| 13 | FINGERS MALONE |
| 14 | VIDEO MEANIES |
| 15 | RETURN OF ROCKMAN |
| 16 | GUNLAW |
| 17 | POWERBALL |
| 18 | HEKTIK |
| 19 | BANDITS AT ZERO |
| 20 | KANE |
| ATARI TOP 20 | |
| 1 | ACTION BIKER |
| 2 | KIKSTART |
| 3 | NINJA |
| 4 | LA SWAT |
| 5 | ONE MAN & HIS DROID |
| 6 | GHOSTBUSTERS |
| 7 | CRYSTAL RAIDER |
| 8 | GUNLAW |
| 9 | LAST V8 |
| 10 | VEGAS JACKPOT |
| 11 | DESPATCH RIDER |
| 12 | MILK RACE |
| 13 | HENRY’S HOUSE |
| 14 | SPELLBOUND |
| 15 | FEUD |
| 16 | MOLECULE MAN |
| 17 | MASTERCHESS |
| 18 | PANTHER |
| 19 | COLONY |
| 20 | HOVER BOVER |
| VIC TOP 10 | |
| 1 | DUCK SHOOT |
| 2 | UNDERMINE |
| 3 | VEGAS JACKPOT |
| 4 | BULLET |
| 5 | PHANTOM ATTACK |
| 6 | 3D MAZE |
| 7 | PYSCHO SHOPPER |
| 8 | SPACE SCRAMBLE |
| 9 | NEW YORK BLITZ |
| 10 | NEUTRON ZAPPER |
| BBC TOP 10 | |
| 1 | GALACTIC PATROL |
| 2 | KANE |
| 3 | VEGAS JACKPOT |
| 4 | STARMAZE 2 |
| 5 | SPECTIPEDE |
| 6 | EDDIE KIDD |
| 7 | GEOFF CAPES |
| 8 | CHALLENGER |
| 9 | THUNDERBALL |
| 10 | BRIAN JACKS |
| MSX TOP 10 | |
| 1 | FORMULA 1 SIMULATOR |
| 2 | CHILLER |
| 3 | SPEED KING |
| 4 | SPACE WALK |
| 5 | FINDERS KEEPERS |
| 6 | MOLECULE MAN |
| 7 | KNIGHT TYME |
| 8 | STORM |
| 9 | OCTAGON SQUAD |
| 10 | FEUD |
8 bit releases each year by computer format
(Including re-releases of other publishers games on the Americana, Rackit, Rebound and Ricochet labels)
| machine | 1984 | 1985 | 1986 | 1987 | 1988 | 1989 | 1990 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| AMSTRAD | 8 | 20 | 49 | 25 | 21 | 15 | |
| ATARI | 1 | 12 | 18 | 3 | 4 | 1 | |
| BBC | 4 | 3 | 10 | 3 | 1 | ||
| C16 | 8 | 17 | 15 | 4 | 1 | ||
| C64 | 21 | 22 | 28 | 69 | 58 | 35 | 11 |
| DRAGON | 1 | 1 | |||||
| ELECTRON | 3 | ||||||
| MSX | 3 | 6 | 21 | ||||
| S128 | 1 | 2 | |||||
| SPECTRUM/AMSTRAD Duo tape | 18 | 10 | |||||
| SPECTRUM | 17 | 26 | 30 | 68 | 42 | 27 | 16 |
| VIC | 12 | 5 | |||||
| Total releases | 55 | 78 | 120 | 252 | 133 | 98 | 44 |
16 Bit releases each year by computer format
| machine | 1987 | 1988 | 1989 | 1990 | 1991 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| AMIGA | 3 | 14 | 11 | 11 | 4 |
| ATARI ST | 3 | 12 | 12 | 11 | 2 |
| IBM PC | 8 | 11 | 10 | 7 | 3 |
| Total releases | 14 | 37 | 33 | 29 | 9 |
Hi, for the vic I read somewhere (a wiki) that games were 18, not 17. Because I have all 17, I searched for the 18th and discovered that maybe it could be a not well defined game designer. Have you info about it? Thanks
That’s correct, there are 18 Mastertronic titles for the Vic 20. 17 were games distributed as part of the main “310” range, the 18th was a rebranding of Richard and David Darling’s Games Creator package that they first released through their own Galactic Software label. It doesn’t have a IV0xxx number prefix which is why it’s not listed in most places although I do have a copy in my own collection (the original and Mastertronic packaged release).
I always wondered what the profit margins to Mastertronic on these £1.99 titles was. Presume the retailer took 25-50%, then minus developer/license cost, then production and marketing costs etc. can’t imagine there was much coming back back into net profit per sale, but clearly enough to keep the company afloat for so long.
I covered the pricing and profitability of the budget range in a piece on my website. This will be imported here shortly. The actual production cost of a tape was pretty low and there was a very good net margin, provided a reasonable volume of sales was made.
Thanks Anthony, look forward to reading that.