List of best-selling video games
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Video games |
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This is a list of video games that have sold the highest number of software units worldwide. The best-selling video game to date is Minecraft, a sandbox game released by Mojang in November 2011 for a wide range of PC, mobile and console platforms, selling more than 300 million copies across all platforms. Grand Theft Auto V is the only other video game known to have sold over 100 million copies. The best-selling game on a single platform is Wii Sports, with nearly 83 million sales for the Wii console. In 2023, Minecraft became the first video game to surpass 300 million copies sold worldwide.[1]
Among the top 50 best-selling video games on this list, over half were developed or published by Nintendo; four Nintendo titles were published with their affiliate, The Pokémon Company. Other publishers with multiple entries in the top 50 include Activision and Rockstar Games with four games, and Blizzard Entertainment, CD Projekt and Electronic Arts with two games. Nintendo EAD is the developer with the most games in the top 50, with twelve titles on the list, followed by Game Freak with six[a] Pokémon games. The oldest game in the top 50 is Pac-Man, released in May 1980, while the most recent is Hogwarts Legacy, released in February 2023.
See also
- List of best-selling video game franchises
- Best-selling video games in the United States by year
- List of highest-grossing media franchises
- List of most-played mobile games by player count
- Lists of best-selling video games by platform
- List of highest-grossing arcade games
Notes
- ^ Pokémon games are typically released in pairs, such as Pokémon Red and Blue, and may include enhanced versions, such as Pokémon Yellow. For the purposes of this list, Pokémon titles released in pairs along with their enhanced versions are counted together.
- ^ a b Only developers and publishers for the original release of each game are listed, except where noted otherwise.
- ^ Although Minecraft was first publicly available on May 17, 2009,[2] and the full release on November 18, 2011, the game first accepted pre-orders on June 13, 2009, so it started accumulating sales at that time.[3]
- ^ Mario Kart 8 sold 8.46 million units[8] and Mario Kart 8 Deluxe sold 62.90 million units.[9]
- ^ Super Mario Bros. sold more than 50 million units worldwide up until 1996.[11] 660,000 units were later sold on Wii Virtual Console,[12] Super Mario Bros. Deluxe version sold 5.07 million units on Game Boy Color, and Classic NES Series port sold 2.27 million units on Game Boy Advance.[13]
- ^ Tetris (Game Boy) sold 40 million cartridges.[17] Tetris (NES) sold 8 million cartridges.[18]
- ^ Red, Green, and Blue versions sold 31.38 million units and Yellow version sold 14.64 million units on Game Boy,[19][20] and all versions sold a combined 1.5 million units on Nintendo 3DS Virtual Console.[21]
- ^ Wii Fit sold 22.67 million units and Wii Fit Plus sold 21.13 million units.[6]
- ^ Pac-Man:
- Arcade video game version (1980) – 400,000 arcade cabinets[22]
- Atari 2600 version (1982) – 8,095,586 game cartridges (7,956,413 by 1983,[23] 139,173 between 1986 and 1990)[24]
- Pac-Man Nelsonic Game Watch (1982) – 500,000+ units[25]
- Coleco tabletop version (1982) – 1.5 million units[26]
- Family Computer (Famicom) and Famicom Mini (Game Boy Advance) versions – 598,679 cartridges in Japan[27][28]
- Game Boy Advance re-release (2004) – 400,000 cartridges in North America[29]
- Atari 5200 version – 35,011 cartridges (between 1986 and 1988)[24]
- Atari 8-bit computer version – 42,359 copies (between 1986 and 1990)[24]
- Thunder Mountain's home computer budget release (1986) – 500,000+ copies[30]
- Mobile phone version – 30 million+ paid downloads[31]
- ^ The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild sold 32.05 million units on Nintendo Switch,[9] and 1.70 million units on Wii U.[32]
- ^ Gold and Silver versions sold 23.1 million units[20] and Crystal version sold 6.39 million units on Game Boy Color.[37]
- ^ Super Mario World sold 20.61 million units on Super Nintendo Entertainment System[42] and 362,500 units on Wii Virtual Console,[12] and Super Mario World: Super Mario Advance 2 sold 5.69 million units on Game Boy Advance.[42]
- ^ New Super Mario Bros. U Deluxe sold 17.61 million units.[9] New Super Mario Bros. U and New Super Luigi U sold 5.82 million units and 3.07 million units respectively.[44]
- ^ FIFA 18 sold 24 million copies[45] and sold additional 2.4 million units throughout the year.[46]
- ^ Sun and Moon sold 16.33 million units and Ultra Sun and Ultra Moon sold 9.21 million units.[47]
- ^ Diamond and Pearl versions sold 17.67 million units,[33] and Platinum version sold 7.06 million units.[52]
- ^ Super Mario Bros. 3 sold 18 million units on Nintendo Entertainment System[53] and 1 million units on Wii Virtual Console,[12] and Super Mario Advance 4: Super Mario Bros. 3 sold 5.43 million units on Game Boy Advance.[54]
References
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Nintendo's first U.S. home videogame console, the Nintendo Entertainment System (NES) was released in 1985 with Mario starring in Super Mario Bros. The legendary title has gone on to sell more than 50 million units worldwide.
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The real winners were Nintendo. To date, Nintendo dealers across the world have sold 8 million Tetris cartridges on the Nintendo Entertainment system.
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Estimates counted 7 billion coins that by 1982 had been inserted into some 400,000 Pac Man machines worldwide, equal to one game of Pac Man for every person on earth. US domestic revenues from games and licensing of the Pac Man image for T-shirts, pop songs, to wastepaper baskets, etc. exceeded $1 billion.
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