Let’s be real here, the scale of which games sell has far surpassed the amount of units that any other medium sells, and are on equal footing with movies on how much money they both make and bring in upon release. That’s where the similarities in mediums end, and the sales of games have completely shattered the notion that this is ‘just a kids' thing’.
The profit and units sold for these games are a testament to how much the gaming industry could truly thrive once they quit laying off folks while making maximum profits. The games below are subject to change, but it’ll be hard to crack this top-ten list for sure.
10The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt
Estimated Profit: $50 Million
For a lot of people,The Witcher 3: Wild Huntis their first foray into the series. The first two games sold 10 million copies combined, while the third game completely shattered that number, selling twice the amount all on its own. The game deserved every bit of praise it received for theworld feeling alive and filled outand the right balance between a good story with decent combat.
The success of the game ignited a worldwide phenomenon whose admiration only grew with the release of various other projects:
It doesn’t seem like the train is stopping for this series either, with more games rumored to come down the pipeline.
9Overwatch
Estimated Profit: Over $1 Billion
Speaking of wild success, whenOverwatchcame out of the gate, it was quickly a hit among fans. Whether you were someone who was into playing it, a fan of the characters and bits of lore you got throughout, or a purveyor of fan-made content on (ahem) various platforms, there was something for anyone even the slightest bit interested.
Though the game and its ill-fated sequel are surrounded by various consequences, a lot of that love has been lost, and the player base has dwindled over time from its peak of 10 million to roughly 1 million active players as of late 2023.
Estimated Profit: $1.38 Billion
Following the extremely successfulGrand Theft Auto 5, fans of Rockstar were waiting with bated breath to see what happened to the Vande der Linde gang who you had to hunt down as John Marston in the previous game.Red Dead Redemption 2was highly praised for its story and characters upon release and quickly became a source of memes.
The game’s only real drawback from seeing the same success as GTA5 was the severe lack of support for the Multiplayer at the same levels as its predecessor. This is a real shame because traipsing around the Wild West with your posse is loads of fun.
7Super Mario Bros.
Estimated Profit: $1.34 Billion, But Infinite Nostalgia
He isn’t the world’s most recognizable video game character for nothing!Super Mariohas cemented itself into pop culture seemingly permanently witha legacy that’s spanned over 40 yearswith no sign of stopping anytime soon. Super Mario Bros. Wonder continues to prove how much both the developers and the audience love Mario’s adventures.
Super Mario Bros. sold over 40 million copies worldwide, and it’s also presumed to be the most emulated game of all time, though there’s no legal way to confirm that as of now. Still, it’s not hard to believe, considering there are knock-off systems filled with NES games available to purchase.
6Mario Kart 8/ Mario Kart 8 Deluxe
Estimated Profit: $3 Million
The Mario Train Continues! Mario has always been multi-talented, and theMario Kartseries is the best way for the plumber tolegally show off his not-so-hidden raceway skills. At first, the sales of the base game for the Wii U didn’t show the level of enthusiasm for previous entries for the game, but that all changed once Nintendo released the Deluxe on the highly successful switch.
Overall, both versions sold well, with a combined total of over 62 million copies sold, with the majority being on the not-surprising switch. On a side note, it’s a shame that the WiiU didn’t pick up the traction that it could have. There was a lot of potential there!
5PUBG: Battlegrounds
Estimated Profit: $11.8 to $12.8 Billion
No one would have thoughtPUBGwould blow up and become the catalyst for theonslaught of games on all platformsthat would follow and grow the Battle Royale genre to the mega-monolith that it is today. The game laid down the foundation that other games have built on or tried new ideas with: dozens of players on one map, the last one to survive wins.
There have been similar games with building mechanics, vampires with superpowers, and even using foam as a weapon instead of the more violent options. Say what you will about the game and the community, PUBG deserves its flowers for opening the floodgates for the genre.
4Wii Sports
Estimated Profit: $5.19 Billion
Nintendo has had huge successes with most of its consoles, Virtual Boy and WiiU notwithstanding, but it was still largely a ‘toy’ for kids to waste a few hours. It wasn’t until the Wii that games were starting to change the narrative from a kids-only pastime to something fun the whole family can play and enjoy.
And which game was the one to lead the charge? Wii Sports, naturally. The controls were extremely easy to learn and, therefore,each sport felt more funthan if you were to try and use a traditional controller. Because of this, the game went on to sell nearly 83 million copies around the world.
3Tetris
Estimated Profit: 1 Billion For The Original; +$2 Billion Overall
Tetriswas the game that almost wasn’t, due to the former Soviet Union’s heavily restrictive copyright laws near the end of the Cold War. Between the tough negotiations and Nintendo’s hesitation to adapt something so niche, they considered turning the game down. Luckily for us and generations forward, Nintendo decided it was worth a shot and gave us the biggest puzzle game of all time.
All of its lifetime, Tetris has sold a total of 100 million both physical and digital copies around the world (or 520 million, depending on who you ask), and if there is a person interested in puzzle games, there’s no stopping the Tetris juggernaut from thriving for generations to come.
2Grand Theft Auto 5
Estimated Profit: $7.7 Billion
Ah, so the list comes full circle as Rockstar returns. Grand Theft Auto couldn’t not be on the list, since to this day it’s still selling like wildfire 10 years after its release. This was the first game of the series to truly nurture its MMO-like multiplayer instead of giving players single-player DLC bundles you’ve seen in Grand Theft Auto games past.
The biggest draw for the multiplayer aspect is the sheer amount of things you may do in it. You can play the games and heists that Rockstar has launched, build your gang, or go wild and do your roleplay with your friends. It’s no wonder they’ve sold over 190 million and counting worldwide. Grand Theft Auto 6 has some large shoes to fill.
1Minecraft
Estimated Profit: $3 Billion
Who knew that a Lego game gone digital would explode onto the scene the way it did? A simple concept: create things out of items found in the environment to explore deeper. However, once released to the public, it became so much more.
Minecraftwas implemented in schools and other programs to teach school-age kids things like science, math, coding, and writing. It’s easy to see how it became larger than the sum of its parts. Even after selling a whopping 300 million copies, the game is only going to get bigger with how much support it still gets from the developers to this day.
