At Least 10 Million Copies
| Franchise name | Original release date | Sales | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Gears of War | November 7, 2006 | 19 million | |
| Gears of War is a tactical third-person shooter video game developed by Epic Games and published by Microsoft Game Studios, revolving about a war between humans and creatures known as Locust in the fictional planet Sera. | |||
| Warcraft | January 15, 1994 | 19 million | |
| Warcraft is a fictional universe in which a series of games and books published by Blizzard Entertainment are set. The franchise also includes tabletop games, collectible card games and an upcoming movie. Figure doesn't include World of Warcraft. | |||
| Midnight Club | October 26, 2000 | 18.5 million shipped | |
| Midnight Club is a series of free roam racing games within metropolitan areas developed by Rockstar San Diego (formerly Angel Studios). | |||
| Dynasty Warriors | February 28, 1997 | 18 million | |
| Dynasty Warriors (真・三國無双, Shin Sangokumusō?, lit. "True – Unrivaled Three Kingdoms") is a series of tactical action video games created by Koei which began as a spin-off of Koei's turn-based strategy Romance of the Three Kingdoms series, based loosely around the Chinese epic of the same name. | |||
| SimCity | 1989 | 18 million | |
| SimCity is an open-ended city-building video game series and the brainchild of developer Will Wright. It was published by Maxis (now a division of Electronic Arts). | |||
| Tom Clancy's Ghost Recon | November 13, 2001 | 18 million | |
| Ghost Recon is a series of military tactical shooter video games created by Red Storm Entertainment, the game development studio founded by American author Tom Clancy. | |||
| Kingdom Hearts | March 28, 2002 | 17.3312 million | |
| Kingdom Hearts (キングダムハーツ, Kingudamu Hātsu?) is a series of action role-playing games developed and published by Square Enix (formerly Square). It is the result of a collaboration between Square and Disney Interactive Studios and is under the direction of Tetsuya Nomura, a longtime Square character designer. | |||
| Prince of Persia | 1989 | 17 million | |
| Prince of Persia is a series of platform games, originally developed by Jordan Mechner. | |||
| Uncharted | November 20, 2007 | 17 million | |
| Uncharted is a series of action-adventure/platform/third-person shooter video games developed by Naughty Dog and published by Sony Computer Entertainment about the adventures of treasure hunter Nathan Drake. | |||
| Zuma | December 12, 2003 | 17 million | |
| Zuma is a fast-paced puzzle game developed by PopCap Games. It can be played for free online at several Web sites, and can be purchased for a number of platforms, including PDAs, mobile phones, and the iPod. An enhanced version, called Zuma Deluxe, is available for purchase in Windows and Mac OS X versions and as an Xbox Live Arcade download for the Xbox 360 and a PlayStation Network download for the PlayStation 3. | |||
| StarCraft | April 1, 1998 | 17 million | |
| StarCraft is a science fiction media franchise created by Chris Metzen and Bill Roper and owned by Blizzard Entertainment. The series has grown to include a number of other games as well as eight novels, two Amazing Stories articles, a board game and other licensed merchandise such as collectible statues and toys. | |||
| The Elder Scrolls | 1994 | 17 million shipped | |
| The Elder Scrolls (abbreviated as TES) is an action role-playing open world video game series developed by Bethesda Game Studios and published by Bethesda Softworks. | |||
| NBA 2K | 1999 | 17 million shipped | |
| NBA 2K is a basketball video game series that was initially exclusive for the Dreamcast starting in 1999. The series was originally published by Sega, under the label Sega Sports and developed by Visual Concepts. | |||
| Half-Life | November 19, 1998 | 16 million | |
| Half-Life is a science fiction first-person shooter computer series developed by Valve Software, first released by Sierra Studios. | |||
| Driver | June 30, 1999 | 16 million | |
| Driver is a series of mission-based driving video games for PlayStation, PlayStation 2, Xbox, Wii, PlayStation Portable, Game Boy Advance, Mobile Phone and PC. Developed by Reflections Interactive in Newcastle upon Tyne, UK, it was originally published by GT Interactive, later by Atari, and currently by Ubisoft. | |||
| Bemani | December 1997 | 15.84 million | |
| The Bemani franchise was created by Konami's music video game division. It began with Beatmania in 1997 and was then expanded with other arcade rhythm game series such as Dance Dance Revolution, Guitar Freaks, and Drum Mania. | |||
| Backyard Sports | 1996 | 15 million | |
| Backyard Sports is a series of video games that play on both consoles and computers. The series is best known for starring kid-sized versions of popular professional sports stars, such as Albert Pujols, Paul Pierce, Barry Bonds, Tim Duncan, Kevin Garnett, Tom Brady, Alex Rodriguez, Joe Thornton and Andy Macdonald. The Backyard Sports series is the only game brand licensed by all the leading professional US sports leagues (MLB, NBA, NFL, NHL, and MLS). | |||
| Barbie | 1984 | 15 million | |
| Based on the Barbie doll made by Mattel, the video games are currently published by Activision. | |||
| Burnout | November 11, 2001 | 15 million | |
| Burnout is a series of high-speed racing games for game consoles. The game series was developed by Criterion Games, published by Acclaim and later Electronic Arts. | |||
| Professor Layton | February 15, 2007 | 14.38 million | |
| The Professor Layton series ("Reiton-kyōju series" (レイトン教授シリーズ?)) is a puzzle adventure game series for the Nintendo DS, currently consisting of five games developed by Level 5. Each title is based in a series of puzzles and mysteries given by the citizens of towns that the main characters visit. It is not necessary to solve all the puzzles to progress, but some are mandatory and at certain points in the game a minimum number of puzzles must be solved before the plot may continue. | |||
| Jak and Daxter | December 4, 2001 | 13.79 million | |
| Jak and Daxter is a video game franchise originally developed by Naughty Dog for the PlayStation 2 named after its own protagonists. | |||
| Metroid | August 6, 1986 | 14 million | |
| The Metroid (メトロイド, Metoroido?) is a series of science fiction-based video games produced by Nintendo, spanning through several Nintendo systems like the Famicom Disk System, NES, Game Boy, Super NES, Game Boy Advance, Nintendo GameCube, Nintendo DS, and Wii. | |||
| Worms | 1995 | 14 million | |
| Worms is a series of turn-based video games developed by Team17 Software. Players control a small platoon of worms across a deformable landscape, battling other computer- or player-controlled teams. The game's concept was devised by Andy Davidson. | |||
| Tales | December 15, 1995 | 13.77 million | |
| The Tales (テイルズ, Teiruzu?) series is a media franchise of role-playing video games published by Namco. | |||
| Soul | 1995 | 13.38 million | |
| The Soul series is a weapon based fighting game series of arcade games. Each installment has its own version on a home console, published by Namco. | |||
| Red Dead Redemption | May 18, 2010 | 12.5 million shipped | |
| Red Dead is a Western video game franchise developed by Rockstar San Diego and published by Rockstar Games. It began as a cancelled Capcom production, Red Dead Revolver, which was later completed by Rockstar and expanded into a franchise. | |||
| Cooking Mama | March 23, 2006 | 12 million | |
| Cooking Mama (クッキング ママ, Kukkingu Mama?) is a series of cookery simulation-styled minigame compilation video games developed by Cooking Mama Limited (formerly known as Office Create) and published by Taito in Japan and for the iPhone OS, Majesco in North America and 505 Games in Europe. | |||
| Myst | September 24, 1993 | 12 million | |
| The Myst franchise consists of a series of adventure games and novels, centering around the storyline of Atrus and his family, who are descendants of the fallen D'ni civilization—a subterranean city whose people could link to other universes by writing a descriptive book about that world. | |||
| SOCOM | August 27, 2002 | 12 million | |
| SOCOM is a series of third-person shooter video games created by Zipper Interactive. The games focus on various teams of United States Navy SEALs completing missions with occasional help from other special operations forces from around the world such as the SAS, SBS, and GROM. | |||
| Star Fox | 1993 | 11.5 million | |
| Star Fox is a video game series developed and published by Nintendo. The original game was a forward-scrolling 3D Sci-Fi rail shooter. Later sequels added more directional freedom as the series progressed. The game concept was inspired by a shrine to a fox god who could fly, which Shigeru Miyamoto visited regularly. The shrine was accessible through a series of arches, thus inspiring the gameplay. | |||
| Devil May Cry | August 23, 2001 | 11 million | |
| Devil May Cry is a series of video games set in the modern day, created by Shinji Mikami and developed by Capcom. | |||
| Civilization | 1991 | 11 million shipped | |
| Civilization is a series of turn-based strategy video games produced by Sid Meier. Basic gameplay functions are similar throughout the series, namely, guiding a civilization on a macro-scale from prehistory to the present day. | |||
| Left 4 Dead | October 17, 2008 | 11 million shipped | |
| Left 4 Dead is a series of cooperative first-person shooter video games produced by Valve Corporation. | |||
| Mass Effect | November 20, 2007 | 10.5 million shipped | |
| Mass Effect is a series of sci-fi third-person action role-playing games developed by the Canadian company BioWare. | |||
| Ace Combat | 1995 | 10 million | |
| Ace Combat is an arcade style flight/combat simulation video game series published by the Japanese company Namco. Although set in fictional countries, many details are similar to real-life wars, such as the Persian Gulf War, the Cold War, and World War II, and feature actual present day aircraft, but also fictional ones, especially flying fortresses. | |||
| Adventure Island | September 12, 1986 | 10 million | |
| Adventure Island (高橋名人の冒険島, Takahashi Meijin no Bouken Jima?, lit. "Master Takahashi's Adventure Island"), also known as Hudson's Adventure Island, is a platform game series developed by Hudson Soft. | |||
| Asphalt | November 21, 2004 | 10 million | |
| Asphalt Urban GT is a series of racing games developed by Gameloft and published by Ubisoft for portable platforms including Nintendo DS, PlayStation Portable and mobile phones. | |||
| Bomberman | 1983 | 10 million | |
| Bomberman is a strategic, maze-based computer and video game franchise originally developed by Hudson Soft. The original game was published in 1983 and new games in the series are still being published to this day. Today, Bomberman is featured in over 60 different games. | |||
| Colin McRae Rally | 1998 | 10 million | |
| Colin McRae Rally is a racing video game series developed and published by Codemasters. The series is named after the late World Rally Championship driver Colin McRae, who provided technical advice during development. | |||
| Deer Hunter | December 31, 1997 | 10 million | |
| Deer Hunter is a first-person shooting game series of North American video games published by WizardWorks Software, a division of Infogrames. | |||
| Hitman | November 2000 | 10 million (or 8 million) | |
| Hitman is a video game franchise available on PC as well as several video game consoles, including PlayStation 3, PlayStation 2, Xbox 360, Xbox and Nintendo GameCube, developed by the Danish company IO Interactive, now a division of Eidos Interactive. The games feature a mix of orchestral and electronica musical scores, composed by Jesper Kyd. The plot focuses on an extremely skilled clone assassin who is sent to silently kill the world's most powerful criminals. | |||
| The Lord of the Rings | October 21, 2002 | 10 million | |
| Based on the series of movies The Lord of the Rings by Peter Jackson, the series include The Lord of the Rings: The Two Towers and The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King, published by Electronic Arts. | |||
| Momotaro Dentetsu | October 26, 1987 | 10 million | |
| Momotaro Dentetsu (桃太郎電鉄, Momotarō Dentetsu?, Momotarō Electric Railway) (also known by the abbreviated name Momotetsu) is a long-running board game-style video game series in Japan. The game mechanics are often compared to the board games sugoroku and Monopoly. | |||
| Pitfall! | 1982 | 10 million | |
| Pitfall! is a series of platform games developed by Activision. | |||
| Puyo Puyo | 1991 | 10 million | |
| Puyo Pop, known in Japan as Puyo Puyo (ぷよぷよ?) is a series of computer puzzle games originally created in 1991 by Compile for various video game systems. | |||
| Star Wars: Battlefront | September 21, 2004 | 10 million | |
| The Star Wars: Battlefront series is a trilogy of first-person/third-person shooters based on the Star Wars films by George Lucas. Pandemic Studios developed the first two installments, while Renegade Squadron was developed by Rebellion Developments. LucasArts was behind the entire series’ publishing. | |||
| Rock Band | November 20, 2007 | 10 million shipped | |
| Rock Band is a series of music video games developed by Harmonix Music Systems and MTV Games, and distributed by Electronic Arts for the PlayStation 2 and 3, Xbox 360, and Wii game consoles. The series expands upon Harmonix' earlier work on the Guitar Hero series, and allows for up to four players to virtually perform rock music songs on lead guitar, bass guitar, drums, keyboard, and vocals using special controllers modeled after musical instruments. | |||
Read more about this topic: List Of Best-selling Video Game Franchises
Famous quotes containing the words million and/or copies:
“I have at last, after several months’ experience, made up my mind that [New York] is a splendid desert—a domed and steepled solitude, where the stranger is lonely in the midst of a million of his race.”
—Mark Twain [Samuel Langhorne Clemens] (1835–1910)
“We can come up with a working definition of life, which is what we did for the Viking mission to Mars. We said we could think in terms of a large molecule made up of carbon compounds that can replicate, or make copies of itself, and metabolize food and energy. So that’s the thought: macrocolecule, metabolism, replication.”
—Cyril Ponnamperuma (b. 1923)