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Top 15 video games by total number of video games of the decade (and how many were made)
Top 15 video games by total number of video games of the decade (and how many were made)
The video game industry is far from dead because some of the highest-grossing video games have broken records. Here are the best sales of the last decade.
15 The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild (24 million units)
Considered by some to be the best Zelda game ever, The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild was released for both Wii U and Switch in March 2017. Since then, it has sold over 24 million copies, with the vast majority of those coming on Switch. .
Not everyone was excited about the addition of the weapon’s durability and cooking mechanics, but Hyrule’s sheer size and the game’s beautiful art style impressed fans and critics alike. In addition to its high sales, the game has a rating of 97 on Metacritic and has received countless awards since its release.
14 FIFA 18 (24 million units)
When it comes to sports simulation games, few series have sold as many copies as FIFA . Like the sport it depicts, EA’s micro-transaction brutality is popular all over the world, and as a result each game sells tens of millions of copies as a result. However, the most successful of them all is FIFA 18 .
Although the game did not offer much innovation when compared to some of its predecessors, it is possible that its release during the World Cup year contributed a lot to its 24 million sales. It also did well with critics, taking home some Game of the Year awards and managing to score a rating of 84 on Metacritic.
13 Pokémon Sun and Moon (25 million units)
If releasing two games simultaneously is a good way to amplify sales, then releasing four two games might just be pure genius. Although there are a few years between Pokemon Sun & Moon and their Ultra versions , they are all considered part of the seventh generation of Pokemon games , which have now sold over 25 million units.
Following on from the hugely successful Pokemon X & Y series, Sun & Moon introduced regional variations to the series and was also the last major Pokemon game released on the 3DS. It seems increasingly likely that Sword & Shield will at some point outpace them in sales, although at least for the time being the eighth generation games are a little short, with about 21 million sales in between.
12 Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 3 (26.5 million units)
After the critical and commercial success of Modern Warfare 2 and Black Ops , expectations were high for Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 3 . While the game may not have been on the same level as its predecessors in the gameplay department, the game pretty much lived up to those expectations and sold millions of copies as a result.
Across all platforms, the game has converted 26.5 million units, just beating its predecessor to become the second best-selling entry in the series ever. In total, the franchise has now sold over 400 million copies, making it the third best-selling video game series in history after only Mario and Tetris .
11 Call of Duty: Modern Warfare (30 million units)
The Modern Warfare reboot was released on October 25, 2019, and grossed over $600 million in sales during its first three days, making it the best digital opening in Activision’s history. Reviewers praised the original game’s reimagining of the original and most gamers seemed to agree that this was one of the best Call of Duty games to date.
Call of Duty: Modern Warfare has since gone on to generate over $1 billion in revenue, with more than 30 million copies sold. This makes it one of the most successful Call of Duty games in the history of the franchise, as well as one of the best-selling games of 2020.
10 The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt (30 million units)
After a few delays, 2015 Game of the Year was released on May 19, 2015 for PC, Xbox One, and PlayStation 4 with a release on the Nintendo Switch coming in 2019. The Witcher 3 also received two content-packed expansions that were later bundled with the game as a full release. .
CD Projekt Red’s RPG that surrounds the Witcher slaying silver-haired monsters, his horse, and a massive deck of cards Gwent had over 1.5 million pre-orders before its release and has since gone on to sell over 30 million copies, thanks in large part to the DLC and Netflix series which was first shown in 2019.
9 Diablo 3 (30 million units)
In 2012, Blizzard Entertainment released Diablo III . The game arrived more than a decade after the series’ second installment, with console ports to come over the next few years. The game even got a Nintendo Switch release in 2018 in the form of Diablo III: Eternal Collection .
With such a huge gap between titles, anticipation was high, and it came to light when the third entry was released on May 15. Diablo III became one of the most pre-ordered PC games on Amazon, and has since surpassed titles including Grand Theft Auto IV and The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild , with over 30 million copies sold worldwide. the world ,
8 The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim (30 million units)
On 11/11/11, fans of the Elder Scrolls were finally able to get their hands on the fifth installment of the main series. The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim has been released with the Dragonborn waiting around the world in front of stores several days in advance. The highly anticipated title was the latest open-world adventure designed by Todd Howard and Bethesda.
After having a series of re-releases and several patches like Cyberpunk 2077 and bugs breaking the game, Skyrim was originally released on PC, Xbox 360 and PlayStation. It has since been playable on PlayStation 4, Xbox One, and Nintendo Switch, and has sold over 30 million units across all platforms.
7 Animal Crossing: New Horizons (32.5 million units)
Although it falls a bit short of Super Mario Odyssey and Breath of the Wild in terms of critical reception, Animal Crossing: New Horizons has outsold both when it comes to initial unit sales. At the time of writing, it has moved over 32 million copies, which also makes it among the top 20 selling video games of all time.
The game is bigger and better than its predecessors in almost every respect, giving each player their own island to craft and pack as they wish. The sales are likely buoyed by the fact that the game was released at the start of the Covid 19 pandemic as well, with people all over the world stuck indoors for months with very little else to do.
6 Terraria (35 million units)
Re-Logic Terraria released on May 16, 2011 for PC and has since ported it to Xbox One, PlayStation 4, Nintendo Switch, PS Vita and most mobile devices. The independent title sold an impressive 200,000 copies within its first week of release and has now sold over 35 million copies.
Those numbers make Terraria one of the 15 best-selling video games of all time, beating the likes of The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim, The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt , and Animal Crossing: New Horizons . Given that the aforementioned titles have much larger budgets, this is an incredibly impressive feat.
5 Red Dead Redemption 2 (37 million units)
The much-anticipated release of Rockstar’s 2010 open-world game, Red Dead Redemption 2 released on October 26, 2018. The game follows Arthur Morgan and the protagonist from the first Red Dead Redemption , John Marston, and the rest of their gang making their way through 1899 and the collapse of the Wild West.
After its release on PlayStation 4 and Xbox One in 2018, the game generated over $700 million in revenue within its first three days on the market. It has since been made available to PC and Stadia users and has shipped over 37 million copies, cementing its position as one of the best-selling video games of the past decade.
4 Mario Kart 8 (44 million units)
Nintendo released the eighth in its long-running kart racing series for Wii U on May 29, 2014. Unsurprisingly, perhaps, Mario Kart 8 quickly became the best-selling Wii U game of all time. It has sold more than 8 million copies, nearly 3 million copies of the next best-selling game, Super Mario 3D World .
Mario Kart 8 Deluxe debuted on the Nintendo Switch in 2017, an improved version of the game, which, like its predecessor, is also a bestseller on its console. According to figures from Nintendo, more than 35 million copies have been sold on the Switch alone, which means that the total number of units sold is around 44 million.
3 PlayerUnknown’s Battlegrounds (70 million units)
A title that really helped popularize the battle royale genre, PlayerUnknown’s Battlegrounds launched via Steam on December 20, 2017 and quickly made its way to other platforms. Since its launch, the game has sold more than 70 million copies, more than Breath of the Wild , Super Mario Odyssey , and The Last of Us combined.
Battlegrounds made more than $10 million during the first three days of Windows Early Access in early 2017 and has made more than $4 billion since then. With more than 300 million downloads worldwide, the game ranks among the top 5 best selling video games of all time, behind Wii Sports, Tetris, and two other top video games of the decade.
2 Grand Theft Auto V (145 million units)
Rockstar Games released the fifth installment in its hugely successful game series on September 17, 2013. Originally playable only on seventh generation consoles, Grand Theft Auto V has since been ported to eighth and ninth generation systems as well as PC, accumulating more From six billion dollars worldwide through more than 145 million sales in the process.
Within the first 24 hours of its release, the bestselling digital edition on PS3 raised over $800 million in revenue and nearly $1 billion within the first three days. The highly anticipated sequel will become the second best-selling video game of all time, with only one title able to sell more copies.
1 Minecraft (200 million units)
Mojang released this randomly generated sandbox title for PC in 2011, before later porting it to consoles and mobile devices. These days Minecraft has more than 100 million active users all over the world and has amassed countless prizes in its lifetime.
With over 200 million copies sold since its launch on November 18, 2011, Minecraft is the best-selling video game of all time by a certain margin, comfortably beating the likes of Grand Theft Auto V , Tetris , Wii Sports , and Pac-Man . Given that the game is still incredibly popular, that number will likely rise even higher.