10 Best-Selling Games of All Time

Video games have been around for nearly a century, dating back to 1958, and the industry has grown into a juggernaut. The gaming industry nets around $200 billion annually, and most of that money is spent on software. Because gamers are spending so much money on games, it’s interesting to take a look and see what they’re buying. We looked through the data and identified the 10 best-selling games of all time. While some of the results aren’t surprising at all, some are, and they’re arranged from the least number of sales to the most units sold.

10) Super Mario Bros.

It used to be that when you bought a home video game console, it came in bundles with a pack-in game. That’s not really a thing anymore, but in the 1980s, it was standard, and Nintendo was completely on board. The Nintendo Entertainment System came with several pack-in games, but the most common was Super Mario Bros. As a result, and because the system sold so well, the tenth best-selling video game of all time is Super Mario Bros. While it’s been re-released on various systems in the years since it came out in 1985, most of its sales were on the NES, where Nintendo managed to sell some 40.2 million copies. Once all the sales are tallied, the total jumps to 58 million.

9) The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt

The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt may be the third game in the Witcher franchise, but it accounts for the bulk of sales … by a lot. The game was released in 2015 as a sequel to The Witcher 2: Assassins of Kings, and it quickly proved itself to be an amazing game. The worldbuilding, lore, characters, voice acting, story, and more all come together to create what is widely considered to be one of the greatest action role-playing games ever made. The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt won countless awards and was ported to multiple systems. Within a decade of release, the game had sold over 60 million copies, accounting for 80% of the total sales for the The Witcher franchise.

8) Terraria

Terraria is a sandbox action-adventure game released in 2011 that quickly became popular as millions of players found it and spent hundreds of hours exploring its environs. The game is loaded with content, is easily moddable, and has been continuously updated since its release. There’s plenty of community involvement as well, and since its 2011 release, Terraria has found its way onto a multitude of platforms, including phones and other handheld devices. Since it was first put up for sale in 2011, Terraria has sold over 64 million copies, which isn’t bad for a 2D independent game that has no set goals.

7) PUBG: Battlegrounds

PlayerUnknown’s Battlegrounds, now known as PUBG: Battlegrounds, was released in 2017 as a battle royale game when such a thing wasn’t really popular. The game remains incredibly popular and draws in players despite still competing with Fortnite, which beat it to market by a couple of months. Unsurprisingly, PUBG: Battlegrounds was ported to pretty much every possible platform that could accommodate it, including iOS and Android phones, and throughout its time, the game has sold more than 75 million copies. Fortnite would be on this list were it not free to play, as it has some 650 million registered users, but since it doesn’t cost anything to “own,” it doesn’t qualify.

6) Mario Kart 8

While the Wii U wasn’t a successful console, far from it, its best-selling game was an outright success. Mario Kart 8 was a smashing success on the console, selling some 8.5 million copies on the system, but that’s only the beginning of the story. The Wii U was quietly shelved in favor of the Nintendo Switch, but instead of creating a new Mario Kart game, Nintendo released Mario Kart 8 Deluxe, an enhanced version, which became the best-selling game on the Switch. On that system, the game sold 70.6 million copies, bringing the total to around 79.1 million.

5) Red Dead Redemption 2

Rockstar Games spent a lot of time and money getting things just right for Red Dead Redemption 2, and it paid off. The game took more than eight years to develop with the studio’s largest team, and it paid off with one of the best games ever made. Red Dead Redemption 2 is widely regarded as an outstanding title that has won countless awards and has been lauded by critics and players since its 2018 release. The game has been released on multiple systems, including PCs, and since its release, Red Dead Redemption 2 has sold over 82 million copies.

4) Wii Sports

While pack-in games disappeared in the 1990s and were rarely seen thereafter, Nintendo knew what it was doing when it released the Wii in 2006. The system’s focus on movement-based gaming required some ‘get to know you’ titles, so Nintendo packed in Wii Sports, which included several different sports games to help players learn the basics. Because the console was such a success, the game sold like hotcakes. It wasn’t just a great pack-in game, as it also spawned several sequels, which have sold well on the Wii, Wii U, and Nintendo Switch. For Wii Sports, Nintendo sold 82.9 million copies.

3) Grand Theft Auto V

It may take Rockstar Games multiple console generations to release new titles in the Grand Theft Auto franchise, but that doesn’t negatively impact sales. The company continues to update and refine its formula, and since releasing GTA V in 2013, the studio has never abandoned the title. It’s been released on every available system since its debut, amassing a ridiculous number of sales, and it’s likely that number will be dwarfed by its sequel when GTA VI is finally released. Since it’s been on the market, Grand Theft Auto V has sold a whopping 225 million copies, which is a staggering amount.

2) Minecraft

Minecraft began life as an indie game developed by Markus “Notch” Persson, and it grew through its beta stage into a game that drew in millions of players. Modders came in early, and through community engagement, Minecraft grew into a juggernaut. Notch released the game and then sold it to Microsoft for $2.5 billion, which is pretty incredible considering the game’s humble beginnings. Since its release on PCs and then on pretty much everything with a screen that could play it, over 350 million copies of Minecraft have sold, making it the most successful independently developed video game in history.

1) Tetris

Speaking of humble beginnings, Tetris was developed by one man in the Soviet Union who had difficulty getting it out to the Western World. This eventually happened, thanks to the efforts of several people who targeted Tetris as a pack-in game for the Game Boy. That eventually occurred, and Tetris exploded in popularity, becoming the most popular puzzle game of all time. Since its release in 1988, Tetris has appeared in multiple versions on a wide range of computers and gaming devices, making it difficult to count them all. When you add it all up, Tetris has sold more than 520 million copies worldwide, making it the most commercially successful video game in history.

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