At Least 20 Million Copies
| Franchise name | Original release date | Sales | |
|---|---|---|---|
| WWE | February 29, 2000 | 47 million shipped | |
| WWE (formerly WWF SmackDown!, then WWE SmackDown vs. Raw) is a series of professional wrestling video games released by THQ. The franchise takes its name from World Wrestling Entertainment's weekly television programs SmackDown and Raw. The games are developed by the Japanese game developer Yuke's. | |||
| Pac-Man | May 22, 1980 | 43.243 million | |
| Pac-Man (パックマン Pakkuman) is an arcade maze chase game designed by Tōru Iwatani and released by Namco during the golden age of arcade video games that spawned a series of ports, remakes, and sequels, in addition to numerous unauthorized clones. | |||
| Wii Fit | November 19, 2006 | 43.15 million | |
| The Wii Fit series of physical sports games was created by Shigeru Miyamoto for Nintendo's Wii console in 2007. It is a sub-series of the Wii Series franchise. | |||
| Lineage | September 1998 | 43 million | |
| Lineage (Korean: 리니지) is a medieval fantasy massively multiplayer online role-playing franchise by the South Korean video game developer NCsoft. It has become highly popular in South Korea with subscriptions counting into the millions, but is also available in Chinese, Japanese, and English language versions. | |||
| Tekken | December 9, 1994 | 41.4 million | |
| Tekken (鉄拳?, lit. Iron Fist) is a series of fighting games developed and published by Namco. Originally an arcade game, versions exist for the PlayStation, PlayStation 2, PlayStation 3, PlayStation Portable, Nintendo 3DS and Xbox 360. Currently it is the most successful franchise in the fighting genre. | |||
| Tomb Raider | November 15, 1996 | 40 million | |
| Tomb Raider is a series of video games, comic books, novels and movies, centering around the adventures of fictional British archaeologist Lara Croft. | |||
| Guitar Hero | November 8, 2005 | 40 million | |
| Guitar Hero is a series of music video games published by RedOctane and Activision, and developed by Harmonix Music Systems from 2005 to 2007 before development duties of the series were transferred to Neversoft starting with Guitar Hero III: Legends of Rock. However, it has been discontinued by Activision in 2011. | |||
| Crash Bandicoot | August 31, 1996 | 40 million | |
| Crash Bandicoot was a video game series created by Andy Gavin and Jason Rubin, starring the titular character. The main games of the series were largely platform games, but there were also some spin-offs in different genres. | |||
| Harry Potter | November 2001 | 40 million | |
| Based on the Harry Potter novels by British writer J. K. Rowling, the video game series (six games for the first six novels and two for the last one, a Quidditch simulation game, and four Lego games) has been developed and published by Electronic Arts. Lego Harry Potter was published by Warner Brothers. | |||
| Dragon Ball Z | September 27, 1986 | 38 million | |
| Dragon Ball (ドラゴンボール, Doragon Bōru?), created by Akira Toriyama in 1984, is an internationally famous media franchise. It consists primarily of one manga series, three different anime, seventeen animated feature films, a collectible trading card game as well as other collectibles like action figures. | |||
| Assassin's Creed | November 13, 2007 | 38 million | |
| Assassin's Creed is a video game developed by Ubisoft Montreal and published by Ubisoft for the PlayStation 3, Xbox 360 and PC video game consoles/computer. | |||
| Star Wars | 1983 | 38 million | |
| Star Wars is a sci-fi, fantasy, action-adventure video game series based on the popular movie series. The series is published by LucasArts. Series within it includes LEGO Star Wars, Star Wars: Battlefront, and The Force Unleashed. Games based on the movies are included too (like Star Wars: Episode III - Revenge of the Sith). | |||
| NBA Live | 1994 | 35 million | |
| The NBA Live series of basketball video games is developed and published by EA Sports annually since 1995. It is currently under an extended hiatus. | |||
| Tap Tap | September 11, 2007 | 35 million | |
| Tap Tap is series of rhythm video games released by Tapulous for the iOS platform. | |||
| Mario Sports | May 1, 1984 | 35.498 million | |
| There have been numerous sports games in the Mario franchise. The first sports game featuring Mario was Golf in 1984. | |||
| Street Fighter | August 30, 1987 | 33 million | |
| Street Fighter (ストリートファイター, Sutorīto Faitā?), is a series of fighting games developed and published by Capcom, which eventually turned into a media franchise covering comic books, anime series and movies. The first game was designed by Takashi Nishiyama and Hiroshi Matsumoto in 1987 for the arcades. | |||
| Metal Gear | July 12, 1987 | 32.63 million | |
| Metal Gear (メタルギア?) is a series of stealth games created by Japanese game designer Hideo Kojima and developed and published by Konami. The series is known for its very serious and complicated story line but also has some hidden humor and running gags throughout the games. The franchise also includes a novel, a radio drama, comic books, and a toy line. | |||
| Mortal Kombat | 1992 | 32.5 million | |
| Mortal Kombat is a series of fighting games created originally by the Midway Manufacturing Company. It is noted for its digitized sprites (which differentiated it from its contemporaries' hand-drawn sprites), and its high levels of blood and gore, including, most notably, its graphic fatality killing moves. As of 2013 it is the most successful American-made franchise in the fighting genre. | |||
| Kirby | April 27, 1992 | 32.37 million | |
| The Kirby (星のカービィ, Hoshi no Kābi?) series is a fantasy video game series starring the character Kirby, developed by HAL Laboratory and Nintendo, and produced by Nintendo. The gameplay of the majority of the games in the series consists mainly of action, platformer and puzzle-solving elements. | |||
| Mario Party | December 18, 1998 | 32 million | |
| Mario Party is a multi-player party game featuring Mario series characters in which four human- and/or computer-controlled characters compete in a board game interspersed with minigames. Most of the Mario Party games have been developed by Hudson Soft and published by Nintendo (though the arcade version was developed by Capcom). | |||
| Brain Age | May 19, 2005 | 31.12 million | |
| Based on the book Train Your Brain: 60 Days to a Better Brain by Japanese neurologist Ryuta Kawashima and distributed under the Touch! Generations brand. The franchise includes two Nintendo DS games. | |||
| Medal of Honor | November 11, 1999 | 31 million | |
| Medal of Honor is the name of a series of first-person shooter games set in World War II, developed by DreamWorks Interactive (currently known as EA Los Angeles) and published by Electronic Arts. Medal of Honor spawned a series of follow-up games including multiple expansions spanning various console platforms and the PC and Apple Macintosh. | |||
| Gundam | 1984 | 30.9044 million | |
| Gundam (ガンダム, Gandamu?) is a video game franchise based on one of the longest-running anime series featuring giant robots or mecha, created by animation studio Sunrise and currently published by Namco Bandai Games. | |||
| James Bond | 1983 | 30 million | |
| The franchise based on James Bond 007, the fictional British agent created in 1952 by British writer Ian Fleming, consist of over 20 video games published through several companies like Nintendo and Electronic Arts. The license is currently handled by Activision. The best known game in the franchise is GoldenEye 007, developed by Rare and published by Nintendo. | |||
| Tony Hawk | September 30, 1999 | 30 million | |
| The Tony Hawk's series is a skateboarding video game series endorsed by American professional skater Tony Hawk, created by game developer Neversoft and published by Activision. | |||
| Mega Man | December 17, 1987 | 29 million | |
| Mega Man, known as Rockman (ロックマン, Rokkuman?) in Japan, is a series of over 50 released video games from Capcom, usually starring the character Mega Man. | |||
| Just Dance | November 17, 2009 | 28 million | |
| Just Dance is a series of dance and music video games that includes games like Just Dance and Just Dance 2, published by Ubisoft, and released on the Wii. It also includes games outside of the name Just Dance, such as Michael Jackson: The Experience. The games include modern hits such as Katy Perry's "Hot n Cold" and Ke$ha's "Tik Tok" to older songs such as The Jackson 5's "I Want You Back" and Donna Summer's "Hot Stuff". Just Dance is the best-selling dance game franchise on home video game consoles. | |||
| Counter-Strike | November 8, 2000 | 25 million | |
| Counter-Strike is a series of tactical first-person shooter games that began as a mod for the game Half-Life. The series has since been developed by Valve Corporation, and published by Sierra Entertainment and Valve. | |||
| Marvel | 1982 | 25 million | |
| Based on comic book superheroes, the franchise includes games from Spider-Man and X-Men published by Activision. | |||
| Ratchet & Clank | November 7, 2002 | 25 million | |
| Ratchet & Clank is a series of 3D platform/shooter video games. The franchise has been developed primarily by Insomniac Games and published by Sony Computer Entertainment for the PlayStation 2, PlayStation Portable, and the PlayStation 3 video game systems. | |||
| Tiger Woods PGA Tour | 1998 | 25 million | |
| Tiger Woods PGA Tour is a series of video games developed and published by Electronic Arts featuring professional golfer Tiger Woods, among other professionals on the PGA Tour. | |||
| Tom Clancy's Rainbow Six | August 21, 1998 | 23 million | |
| Initially developed by Red Storm Entertainment while the Rainbow Six novel was being written by Tom Clancy, the tactical shooter franchise soon spawned a number of sequels and expansion packs. Red Storm was later acquired by Ubisoft, who currently develops and publishes the games. | |||
| Super Smash Bros. | January 21, 1999 | 22.78 million | |
| Super Smash Bros is a series of Nintendo fighting games created by Masahiro Sakurai that feature characters from several other Nintendo franchises and is known for both its unique gameplay style and countless nods towards the company's history. | |||
| Mario & Sonic | November 6, 2007 | 22.28 million | |
| Mario & Sonic is a crossover sports game series featuring characters from the Mario and Sonic the Hedgehog franchises. | |||
| Petz | 1995 | 22 million | |
| Petz (which includes brands like Dogz and Catz) is a series of games in which the player can adopt, raise, care for and breed their own virtual pets. | |||
| Tom Clancy's Splinter Cell | November 18, 2002 | 22 million | |
| Splinter Cell is a series of video games endorsed by American author Tom Clancy which spawned a novel series in 2004 written under the pseudonym David Michaels. As a brand, it is owned by Tom Clancy's company, Rubicon, and is licensed to Ubisoft to make the games. The characters of the game, as well as "Third Echelon" itself, were created by Ubisoft writer J.T. Petty. | |||
| Yu-Gi-Oh! | July 1998 | 21.8 million | |
| Based on the Japanese anime and manga franchise Yu-Gi-Oh! (遊☆戯☆王, Yūgiō?, lit. "Game King") created by Kazuki Takahashi. All related video games are produced by Konami. | |||
| Nintendogs | April 21, 2005 | 21.67 million | |
| Nintendogs is a real-time pet simulation video game series developed and published by Nintendo for the Nintendo DS handheld video game console, originally released in three versions, plus two additional versions, all differing only in the starting available dogs to play with. | |||
| God of War | March 22, 2005 | 21.65 million | |
| God of War is a series of action-adventure video games loosely based on Greek mythology originally created by David Jaffe and developed by SCE Santa Monica Studio (main installments), as well as Ready at Dawn (portable installments) and Javaground (mobile installment). The multimedia franchise's central story revolves around the Spartan warrior, Kratos, who is on a path of vengeance to rid himself of the nightmares of murdering his wife and child and the betrayal by his father, Zeus and the Olympian Gods. | |||
| Monster Hunter | September 21, 2004 | 21 million | |
| Monster Hunter is a series of action role-playing video games released by Capcom, where players take the role of a hunter in a fantasy environment and complete quests by seeking out monsters to hunt or capture. | |||
| Jikkyō Powerful Pro Yakyū | 1994 | 20.2 million | |
| Jikkyō Powerful Pro Yakyū (実況パワフルプロ野球), known as Live Powerful Pro Baseball to non-Japanese speakers, is a traditionally Japan-only baseball series created by Konami. It is known for its big-headed characters and arcade-style gameplay. | |||
| Age of Empires | October 26, 1997 | 20 million | |
| Age of Empires is a series of real-time strategy video games developed by now-defunct Ensemble Studios and Gas Powered Games, and published by Microsoft Studios. There are eight titles in the series (four of which are expansions) and a spin-off titled Age of Mythology. | |||
| Castlevania | September 26, 1986 | 20 million | |
| Castlevania is a video game series created and developed by Konami originally released as Akumajō Dracula (悪魔城ドラキュラ, Akumajō Dorakyura?, lit. "Devil's Castle Dracula"). The franchise spawned a number of action figures and a future movie. | |||
| Diablo | December 1996 | 20 million | |
| Developed by Blizzard North and published by Blizzard Entertainment, Ubisoft and Electronic Arts, Diablo is a dark fantasy-themed action role-playing game in a hack and slash or "Dungeon Roaming" style. | |||
| Frogger | 1981 | 20 million | |
| Developed by Konami and released worldwide by Sega and Gremlin Industries in 1981, Frogger has seen numerous sequels for a number of systems including computers and video game consoles. The given sales figure does not include arcade game sales. | |||
| Imagine | 2007 | 20 million | |
| Imagine is a series of video games aimed primarily at girls released from 2007 onwards. | |||
| J.B. Harold | 1986 | 20 million | |
| J.B. Harold is a series of mystery adventure games. It began with J.B. Harold Murder Club, released by Riverhillsoft for the NEC PC-98 computer in 1986, and the series has since been released on various platforms. | |||
| Lego Star Wars | April 5, 2005 | 20 million | |
| A platform-based video game series where the player takes the role of characters from the films, in minifigure form. | |||
| Lemmings | February 14, 1991 | 20 million | |
| Lemmings is a puzzle video game, developed by DMA Design (now Rockstar North) and owned by Psygnosis (now Sony Computer Entertainment Liverpool) who published it in 1991, originally for the Commodore Amiga. | |||
| Minecraft | May 17, 2009/November 18, 2011 | Over 20 million | |
| Minecraft is a sandbox-building independent video game originally created by Swedish game designer Markus "Notch" Persson and now developed by his company, Mojang. Originally a computer game made using Java, there have been ports released for Android, iOS, and Xbox 360. | |||
| Rayman | September 1, 1995 | 20 million | |
| Created in 1995 by French graphic artist Michel Ancel, the main character of the series, Rayman, became the official mascot of the video game publisher Ubisoft. The Rayman series does not include the Raving Rabbids series. | |||
| Simple | 1998 | 20 million | |
| The Simple series are a number of series of budget-priced video games, published by Japanese company D3 Publisher and developed by a variety of companies, covering many systems. | |||
| SingStar | May 21, 2004 | 20 million | |
| SingStar is a competitive karaoke video game series for the PlayStation family, published by Sony Computer Entertainment Europe and developed by London Studio. Fifteen English-language installments of the series have been released for the PlayStation 2, with recent versions also released for the PlayStation 3. | |||
| SpongeBob SquarePants | 2001 | 20 million | |
| SpongeBob SquarePants is an American animated television series and media franchise. The games are published by THQ. | |||
| Spyro the Dragon | September 10, 1998 | 20 million | |
| Spyro the Dragon is a platform game series starring the video game character Spyro, originally released for the PlayStation by Insomniac Games and published by Sony Computer Entertainment. The franchise expanded to several other platforms including portable and mobile phones through different developers since then. | |||
Read more about this topic: List Of Best-selling Video Game Franchises
Famous quotes containing the words million and/or copies:
“I reckon this could mean another 10 million at the box office.”
—Blake Edwards (b. 1922)
“Realism to be effective must be a matter of selection. ... genius chooses its materials with a view to their beauty and effectiveness; mere talent copies what it thinks is nature, only to find it has been deceived by the external grossness of things.”
—Julia Marlowe (1866–1950)