Key Takeaways
- The video game industry generates billions of dollars each year, with a significant portion coming from microtransactions and mobile games.
- Some of the best-selling video game franchises have been around for decades and have released numerous sequels and spin-offs over the years.
- Successful franchises like Assassin's Creed, The Sims, LEGO, Minecraft, FIFA, Grand Theft Auto, Call of Duty, Pokemon, Tetris, and Mario have collectively sold billions of copies, making them some of the most popular and influential video game series.
To say that there's big money in video games would perhaps be a bit of an understatement, with the industry generating hundreds of billions of dollars each and every year. A significant proportion of this money comes from microtransactions and mobile games, but traditional video game sales still play an important role in the industry's runaway success.
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The best-selling video game franchises have sold hundreds of millions of copies over the years; generating billions of dollars for their respective publishers and developers in the process. Unsurprisingly, many of the most popular video game series also happen to be some of the longest-running, as, generally the longer a series is around, the more sequels and spin-offs get released.
Updated September 12, 2024, by Tom Bowen: The most successful video game franchises have sold billions of copies between them and have been responsible for some of the very best video games of all time. They've consistently offered up innovation and creativity that has in turn gone on to inspire countless others, helping to shape and define the industry and many of the genres that it's comprised of. Their popularity is unrivaled and their impact is immeasurable, thus explaining their status as the best-selling video game series of all time.
12 Sonic the Hedgehog
160 Million+ Sales (June 1991 - Present)
Sonic may have fallen off a little in recent years, but there was once a time when Sega's blue blur was able to go toe-to-toe with Mario. This is perhaps evidenced by the fact that around half of the series' total sales can be attributed to the first two Sonic games, which have sold around 50 and 25 million copies respectively over the years.
Since then, Sonic 3 & Knuckles is the only game to have cleared ten million units, although the two Sonic Adventure games for the Sega Dreamcast both came close, as too did 2017's Sonic Mania. The iconic hedgehog still remains popular despite this decline in sales though, having managed to find great success on the silver screen in recent years.
Sonic the Hedgehog
11 Final Fantasy
185 Million+ Sales (December 1987 - Present)
Hironobu Sakaguchi's Final Fantasy franchise has had a profound impact on the JRPG genre. It's inspired countless other titles over the years and played a huge role in the genre's rise in popularity on Western shores. With this in mind, it should come as no surprise to learn that it's one of the best-selling video game franchises of all time.
Final Fantasy 10 and its 2003 sequel make up a significant portion of the franchise's sales, with more than 20 million units shipped between them. The series' seventh, eighth, and thirteenth installments have also proven popular with players, having shipped well over 40 million copies combined once remakes, remasters, and rereleases are taken into account.
Final Fantasy
10 Assassin's Creed
200 Million+ Sales (November 2007 - Present)
Given that most of the best-selling video game franchises have been around since before the turn of the century, for Assassin's Creed to have shifted more than 200 million units since its 2007 debut is quite the achievement. Of course, it certainly helps that - including spin-offs - the series has averaged just shy of two new titles a year since the very first Assassin's Creed game.
When it comes to the best-selling Assassin's Creed games, there are a couple of different contenders for the top spot. Assassin's Creed IV: Black Flag sold around 15 million copies, while in early 2022, Ubisoft revealed that Assassin's Creed Valhalla had generated over a billion dollars in consumer revenue. However, it remains unclear how much DLC and microtransactions figured into this amount.
Assassin's Creed
9 The Sims
200 Million+ Sales (February 2000 - Present)
For The Sims to have racked up over 200 million sales is an impressive feat indeed, especially when one considers that there have only been four mainline titles. It's worth noting though that this figure does appear to include sales of the many expansions that have been released over the years, with The Sims 4 currently sitting at 14 and counting.
In terms of the best-selling Sims games, The Sims 4 surpassed 20 million players in early 2020, making it the most-played title in the franchise's rich history. In second place sits the series' very first installment, which is thought to have sold around 11 million copies, with the other two Sims games having brought in around 13 million sales between them.
The Sims
8 LEGO
200 Million+ Sales (September 1997 - Present)
Although there have been one or two big sellers, the success of LEGO video games is more to do with strength in numbers than it is individual brilliance. There have been more than 100 LEGO games since the turn of the century, ranging from tacky mobile titles to licensed games based on some of the world's biggest media IPs.
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Together, LEGO games are estimated to have sold more than 200 million copies, with licensed games making up a significant proportion of this amount. Among the most successful properties are LEGO Star Wars, LEGO Indiana Jones, and LEGO Batman, which, between them, have shifted well over 50 million units over the years.
LEGO
7 Minecraft
350 Million+ Sales (November 2011 - Present)
As well as being one of the best-selling video game franchises of all time, Minecraft also holds the distinction of being one of the best-selling games. Pretty much all of the quarter of a billion sales or so that the series has achieved can be attributed to the influential sandbox title, with Minecraft Dungeons attracting another 10 million players or so.
Given the huge success of the franchise, it's no wonder that Microsoft was willing to part with so much money to acquire Mojang in 2014, with the tech giant handing over $2.5 billion to make the deal happen. That may seem like a lot, but given that the series has generated more than $3 billion through game sales alone, most will likely see this as money well invested.
Minecraft
6 FIFA
325 Million+ Sales (December 1993 - September 2022)
Considering North Americans are only just now beginning to appreciate the joys of football, the success of EA's FIFA franchise was all the more impressive. The series received annual multiplatform releases for almost three full decades, with the lion's share of its 325 million-plus sales having come from European and South American countries.
The best-selling FIFA game is FIFA 18, which sold more than 26 million copies. There were more than ten FIFA games that have powered past the ten million mark though, making it easy to see where that staggering total came from. However, after failing to agree a new deal with the organization from which the series took its name, EA was forced to rebrand the franchise to EA Sports FC in 2023.
FIFA
5 Call of Duty
425 Million+ Sales (October 2003 - Present)
Having beaten off strong competition from the likes of Medal of Honor and Battlefield, Call of Duty is now widely regarded as being the top dog when it comes to multiplayer FPS games. Unsurprisingly, this has led to phenomenal sales over the years, with the franchise having shifted more than 425 million units since its 2003 debut.
Of the 12 Call of Duty titles to have broken through the 10 million unit mark, it's Call of Duty: Black Ops that leads the way with an impressive 30.72 million sales. Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 3 (30.71 million) and Call of Duty: Black Ops 2 (29.59 million) take second and third place respectively and help to demonstrate just how dominant COD was at the height of its popularity.
Call of Duty
4 Grand Theft Auto
430 Million+ Sales (November 1997 - Present)
Rockstar Games seemingly has the Midas touch, with just about everything that the studio touches turning to gold. This all started with the Grand Theft Auto series, which, after its relatively humble beginnings back in the nineties, has gone on to become one of the biggest video game franchises around.
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A significant proportion of the series' 400 million-plus sales can be attributed to its fifth mainline installment, with GTA 5 having sold more than 200 million copies worldwide in the decade or so since its initial release. For those wondering, this is more than twice as many as the four previous mainline GTA games managed between them.
Grand Theft Auto
3 Pokemon
480 Million+ Sales (February 1996 - Present)
Pokemon has generated more than $88 billion since its inception back in 1996, making it the highest-grossing media franchise of all time by some considerable margin. It falls some way short of being the best-selling video game series though, with Pokemon games only accounting for a small proportion of the franchise's overall revenue.
In total, Pokemon has shifted more than 480 million units, with the Gen 1 titles accounting for around 31 million of these. Pokemon Sword & Shield come in second place with 25 million sales, while Gold & Silver take the bronze with 23 million. Scarlet & Violet (20.61 million) aren't too far behind though and will likely end up breaking into the top three before all is said and done.
Pokemon
2 Tetris
490 Million+ Sales (November 1987 - Present)
Given its many rereleases and the fact that copies of Tetris were often bundled with the original Game Boy, it's easy to see how the title has amassed more than 70 million physical sales over the years. However, the game's success as a paid mobile app may come as a surprise to many, with reports suggesting that more than 425 million people had purchased it for their phones as of 2014.
This not only cements Tetris' position as the best-selling puzzle game of all time but also makes it one of the most popular video game franchises to date. Its simple yet addictive gameplay remains timeless even today and creative reimaginings like Tetris Effect: Connected have helped it to remain somewhat relevant despite many decades having now passed since its initial release.
Tetris
1 Mario
875 Million+ Sales (September 1985 - Present)
It shouldn't come as too much of a surprise to learn that Mario is the best-selling video game franchise of all time. Its 879 million unit sales place it well ahead of the nearest contender and are bolstered by a variety of hugely successful spin-off series, which include Mario Kart, Mario Part y, and Mario Sports.
These three series alone have accumulated around 300 million sales, though the bulk of the franchise's earnings come from the mainline Super Mario titles themselves. Super Mario Bros. (40.4 million) and New Super Mario Bros. (30.8 million) are among the best-selling Mario games, though it's actually Mario Kart 8 that leads the way with over 70 million sales.
