Compiling such lists is always associated with many difficulties. Differences in genres and release times, discrepancies in numbers from different sources, and other "translation difficulties". However, the daredevils at tomshardware.com put all the information together and here's what came out of it.
15th place - Cossacks: European Wars
Cossacks came out in 2001 and took their place among the classic RTS. A variety of troops and factions, an excellent depiction of weapons for those times, as well as epic battles in which up to 8000 combat units could simultaneously participate - all this favorably distinguished Cossacks from other games of the genre. Creators - GSC Game World.
Circulation: 4 million copies
14th place - Diablo II
The second part of Diablo was released in 2000. Already after the first two weeks, more than 1 million copies were sold, for which Diablo 2 got into the Guinness Book of Records as the fastest selling game. An absolute classic of the genre, combining the possibility of an endless meat grinder with progress through the plot and pumping the selected character. Apparently, in May, Blizzard Entertainment will release the 3rd part of this great game.
Circulation: 4 million copies
13th place - Counter-Strike
Valve released their masterpiece back in 1999 as a mod for Half-Life. And until now CS is one of the most popular games in many countries. It hardly makes sense to tell eSports fans what CS is, because many of them started their gaming career with this game in cozy computer clubs.
Circulation: 4.2 million copies
12th - StarCraft II: Wings of Liberty
The continuation of the famous StarCraft "a was released in 2010. Changes in graphics and gameplay have long been condemned by fans of the first part of the game, but time has shown that the developers did everything in good faith. According to many, it was the release of StarCraft II that raised the bar for eSports to a new level.
Circulation: 4.5 million copies
11th place - Riven
This game was released in 1997 by the Miller brothers. It became a continuation of Myth and differed from the original with improved graphics and more difficult puzzles. However, the glory of the original could not be interrupted.
Circulation: 4.5 million copies
10th place - World of Warcraft:Cataclysm
The game was released in 2011 by the same Blizzard Entertainment as one of the additions to the original WoW. The game is the most popular MMORPG in the world, at the moment the number of subscribers exceeds 10 million people. The fantasy world of Warcraft "a has become a home for many.
Circulation: 4.7 million copies
9th place - Half Life
One of the best first person shooter games. When Valve released Half-Life in 1998, over 40 gaming publications voted it the best game of the year. Thanks to ingenious decisions in the development of levels, gameplay and AI, the game has received cult status.
Circulation: 5 million copies for PC (9.3 million copies for all platforms)
8th place - SimCity 3000
It is the third game in the SimCity series and is the most successful in the city life simulation genre. Compared to previous parts, SimCity 3000, released in 1999, favorably differed in the graphical component and more complex schemes of work in some industries, especially those related to the processing and disposal of garbage. Developer - Electronic Arts.
Circulation: 5 million copies
7th place - Battlefield 3
Relatively new game in the list. The third part of the famous Battlefield series was released in 2011. Electronic Arts have relied on stunning graphics and multiplayer. And although the plot of the single player game was somewhat blurred because of this, the game received the highest praise from both gaming publications and gamers themselves.
Circulation: over 5 million copies (over 11 million across all platforms)
6th place - Minecraft
Another fresh one that just came out last year. Developers from Sweden invited players to create their own world from cubes, embodying their imagination in unknown architectural forms. Thanks to its uniqueness and simplicity, in just a year, the number of registered users of the game reached 24 million.
Circulation: 5.3 million copies
5th place - Half-Life II
The second part cult game came out in 2004. During the year, Half-Life 2 collected about 40 awards for the title of "best game of the year." New engine, brilliant world animation, advanced AI - thanks to this, the second part of the series is still on the first line of the most highly rated first-person shooters.
Circulation: over 6 million copies (12 million across all platforms)
30 most popular games | How to choose?
The lack of any statistics and research on video game sales makes our task much more difficult, so we rely on the ratings and results that are published on VGChartz and Wikipedia. The problem is that on these resources only physical copies are taken into account, but online sales are not kept. In addition, VGChartz does not divide games according to compatibility with operating systems - Windows, Mac and Linux. It is sometimes impossible to tell the difference between PC and game console sales because publishers provide incomplete information.
In general, in order to create the most accurate rating, we researched various publications and charts, while discussing the cultural impact of a particular game. That is why we decided not to call this article just a bestseller ranking (by sales volume) and prepared a list of the most popular games in alphabetical order so that it looks the least subjective.
We also decided to write about one game from the franchise so as not to clutter up the rating with them and ultimately consider as many different games as possible. For example, we didn't include The Sims in the ranking because The Sims 2 sold many more copies. There are a number of games that have undoubtedly left their mark on history (we are talking about Call of Duty or Grand Theft Auto), but they did not make it to our list because they were sold in much smaller quantities.
30 most popular games | Age Of Empires
Age Of Empires is a strategy game released in 1997 in which you had to build a civilization with the transition to different eras(starting from the Stone Age to the Age of Agriculture, then to the Bronze and Iron Ages). It can be said that the game combined Civilization II and Warcraft II, and its sales eventually reached the three million mark.
30 most popular games | Anno 1503: The New World
Anno 1503 A.D.: The New World combines real-time strategy and city building simulation. The game was developed in Austria, released in 2003 and subsequently sold over three million copies.
30 most popular games | Baldur's Gate
This role-playing game (RPG) appeared in 1998 and has since sold over two million copies. Baldur's Gate is the first game in the famous fantasy world of Forgotten Realms, heavily influenced by the 1974 tabletop role-playing game Advanced Dungeons & Dragons.
30 most popular games | Battlefield 2
The acclaimed first-person shooter based on a fictional conflict set in the 21st century was released by Digital Illusions CE (DICE) in 2005, using certain role-playing and strategy mechanics to create an engaging multiplayer game. A million copies were sold in the first month after the game was released, and so far the number of licenses sold worldwide is ten million, which exceeds even the result of Battlefield 3 (although it is difficult to evaluate such data, since EA does not separate sales of PC games and game consoles ).
30 most popular games | Command & Conquer: Red Alert
This real-time strategy game appeared back in 1996, and since then it has sold more than three million copies, although it gained its popularity more slowly than the new version - Red Alert 2. However, fans' interest in this RTS game has been maintained for a long time. time, and at the moment Command & Conquer: Red Alert can be downloaded for free on the Internet.
30 most popular games | Cossacks: European Wars
"Cossacks" - another bright representative real-time strategy genre. The game was released in 2001 for operating Windows systems 95/98, then went on to sell four million copies and received many awards and rave reviews in the press. The graphics of the game were especially noted, as well as its welcome video.
30 most popular games | Counter strike
Although Counter-Strike is a modification of the Half-Life game, we could not pass it by, if only because of the large number of copies sold - after all, it reached four million units. In addition, the game had a significant impact on the first-person shooter genre. In addition to popularizing the gameplay and attracting a new number of fans, Counter-Strike can also be praised for its contribution to the development of various gaming tournaments.
30 most popular games | crysis
According to Crytek, three million copies of this game were distributed, which was released in 2007 and subsequently became one of the most popular in the series. The game takes place in a fictional future after the discovery of an alien spaceship. The player, protected by a special exoskeleton nanosuit, has to fight the military North Korea as well as aliens.
30 most popular games | Diablo III
Diablo III is a new name on our list of popular video games. Blizzard created this game in 2012 and, according to the latest data, has already sold 15 million copies. By the way, Diablo III holds the record for the fastest sales among PC games, as already in the first 24 hours after the release, gamers immediately purchased 3.5 million copies.
30 most popular games | Doom 3
Another famous FPS shooter is id Software's most popular game to this day. AT new version, unlike previous games, a different story was used, although the gameplay remained the same, despite the use of various techniques from the "horror" genre. Another drawback - the inability to use a flashlight and a weapon at the same time - did not prevent Doom 3 from scattering more than 3.5 million copies worldwide.
30 most popular games | Ever Quest
EverQuest is a 3D Massively Multiplayer Online Role Playing Game (MMORPG) that is still undergoing an overhaul. Since the game's release in 1999, Sony has managed to sell over four million copies, and by 2012 had released over 19 add-ons.
30 most popular games | Far Cry
Far Cry is a story about an American special forces soldier who is looking for a journalist missing on a mysterious island. The game went on sale in 2004, received generally good reviews in the press, and has since sold 2.5 million copies.
30 most popular games | Guild Wars
Guild Wars is a prominent representative of the genre of massively multiplayer online role-playing games, in which the gamer is required to choose any of the six main professions and develop the corresponding skills. The game includes a PvP mode. Since 2005, the release has sold more than 6.5 million copies.
30 most popular games | Half Life 2
By 2008, Valve announced the sale of more than 6.5 million copies of Half-Life 2. This is exactly the case when the sequel became more successful than the original, which sold 10 million copies, because more than 12 million copies of Half-Life 2 have already been sold excluding online sales. Initially, $40 million was invested in Half-Life 2, and it took 5 years to create the game, released in 2004. By the way, it was introduced at the same time that Valve launched its Steam service. Thus, Half-Life 2 became the first single-player game to require activation via the Internet.
30 most popular games | Microsoft Flight Simulator
The game was released in 1996 under the name Microsoft Flight Simulator for Windows 95 and became a real hit in North America. The popularity resulted in five million sales, and in 2009 the project was suspended. It is known that in 2012 the Microsoft Flight game was released without the Simulator prefix, which was characterized by more advanced graphics compared to previous versions of the popular simulator.
30 most popular games | Minecraft
The game's official website proudly reports 14 million copies sold, a fraction of Diablo III's 15 million. In Minecraft, the gamer has to build for his own survival and use as many resources as possible for this. However, there is also a special "creative mode" (Creative mode), where it is impossible to die, and where literally all the conditions for creativity are created.
30 most popular games | Myst
Next up is one of the few adventure games on our list, which came out way back in 1993 and has since recorded six million licenses sold. According to the plot, the main character named Wanderer finds a magic book, with the help of which he goes on a journey through different worlds. The game is artistically captivating and, unlike many adventure games of the time, it features a first-person perspective.
30 most popular games | Populous
Lionhead's old website says 4 million, which is how many copies have been sold since Populous was released in 1989. The real-time strategy contains as many as 500 levels, and in each of them a piece of land is played out that needs to be conquered. With this game, the foundations of the so-called "god simulator" were laid, and in Populous, the player uses supernatural abilities to help his people "be fruitful and multiply."
30 most popular games | Portal 2
According to Valve, this first-person puzzle game has sold over four million copies. Portal 2 is a sequel to the game released in 2011, where all the principles of the previous version are observed. The action takes place in the Laboratory for the study of the nature of portals (Aperture Science), where special weapons are used to create portals, and each level is filled with challenging puzzles that will help you escape from the evil artificial intelligence.
30 most popular games | Roller Coaster Tycoon
RollerCoaster Tycoon is a 1999 game with four million copies sold in North America alone. It represents the genre of economic strategy, and is one of the most popular amusement park simulators. However, like many strategy games, the Xbox version of RollerCoaster Tycoon was far less successful.
30 most popular games | Sim City 3000
The acclaimed city builder was released in 1999 and, according to EA statistics, sold five million copies, including an expanded version of SimCity 3000 Unlimited. Compared to its predecessor, SimCity 3000 features many changes that received rave reviews, and the game itself is a great example of a powerful city-building sim.
30 most popular games | The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim
The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim is an RPG released in 2011. The action takes place 200 years after the events of the previous game in the series (The Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion), and the main character will have to stop the return of the dragons and defeat the most powerful of them named Alduin. At the moment, five million copies of this game have been sold.
30 most popular games | starcraft
The most popular in the StarCraft series was the first version of the game, in which players find themselves in a fictional 25th century, where three playable races are trying to conquer the galaxy. StarCraft released in 1998 is a real-time strategy game. Sales eventually reached 11 million copies, half of which belong to residents South Korea where the game has become wildly popular.
30 most popular games | Star Wars: The Old Republic
According to some sources, Star Wars: The Old Republic was sold in the amount of about three million copies. It is noteworthy that approximately $150-200 million was spent on the creation of this massively multiplayer online role-playing game. At the same time, Star Wars: The Old Republic became the fastest growing MMORPG project, as the number of players exceeded the one million mark in the first three days after release.
30 most popular games | The Sims 2
The Sims 2 is arguably the best-selling game in history, with a combined sales of 20 million copies. In the new version of the "life simulator" from 2004, the main idea of the first The Sims product was supported, but the issue of the presence of naked characters, which could be seen using special cheat codes, had to be solved. This error was later corrected.
30 most popular games | theme park
This economic simulator appeared in 1994, and since then the developers have managed to sell 3.5 million copies of the game. At the very beginning, the gamer will have to build an amusement park in the UK, for which only 100 pounds are allocated. The game gained popularity, among other things, due to its eccentric humor and gameplay that reminded us of RollerCoaster Tycoon.
30 most popular games | Tomb Raider II
This version can be considered the most successful game of the Tomb Raider series with improved gameplay and graphics, which helped it to become a cult and disperse eight million copies worldwide (3 million of which were intended for PC). It is unlikely that anyone could forget that the action here revolves around the Xian Dagger, which gives the owner supernatural powers.
30 most popular games | Warhammer 40,000: Dawn of War
Developer THQ reports over four million copies sold for this game, including all of its add-ons. A real-time strategy game published in 2004 that challenges players to defend certain areas of the map and gather resources to build buildings and bases.
30 most popular games | Where In The World Is Carmen Sandiego
And here is the main surprise of our rating - the game of 1985 with more than four million releases, it is also the oldest of all in our list. This educational strategy has players looking for enemies around the world, which requires them to find various clues and develop detective skills.
30 most popular games | World Of Warcraft
Well, this game has probably made the biggest impact on video game culture in the 21st century. It was released in 2004 based on the previous version of Warcraft and brought together more than 10 million subscribers who invaded the world of Azeroth and chose the more suitable Alliance or Horde faction. In total, more than 14 million copies have been successfully sold. It is worth noting that this game has raised the popularity of international tournaments and received its portion of ridicule in the cartoon South Park.
Well, this is how the selection of the 30 most popular games in PC history according to the version looks like.
The level of sales does not always speak for the quality of the game, and its success is measured not only in numbers. However, often these numbers indicate that the project turned out to be at least good. We have conducted an in-depth study using the most modern techniques(thanks Google) and put together a list of the best selling PC games of all time. All data is based on Statista statistics for January.
The list, as expected, includes both time-tested hits from Blizzard and Valve studios, as well as rather unexpected projects. Please note that we did not take into account the sales of various add-ons for games already present in the selection. And while some of these DLCs sold quite a lot, we focused exclusively on full-fledged games. It also lacks different parts of the same series. Otherwise, the entire list would be occupied exclusively by games from the Sims series, and no one needs this. And now it's time to go through the collection.
World circulation: 2.96 million copies
Star Wars: The Old Republic created a huge buzz at the time of release, so it's no surprise that it ended up on this list. Bioware's vibrant MMORPG builds on the ideas behind the Knights of the Old Republic series, transforming a familiar world into a full-fledged MMO.
A couple of months after the release, the Old Republic acquired a shareware model, and all kinds of add-ons for the game are still being released to this day. At the same time, the quality of the Old Republic is still at the highest level, and you can register for free and start your adventure at any time.
World circulation: 3.61 million copies
The first part of Doom became so popular that it was banned in many offices, as their employees spent hours playing the game. Of course, everyone was looking forward to a sequel called Hell on Earth, which in the end did not disgrace the honor of the original. Doom II: Hell on Earth was in no way inferior to its predecessor and pleased with many innovations. Until now, heated debate has not subsided over which of the two parts was better.
In fact, 1993's Doom could well have sold more widely than the sequel. But since the game initially had stripped-down shareware versions distributed for free, it's hard to even imagine what the potential profit could be.
World circulation: 3.88 million copies
It took a long time for developer Bethesda to create a truly iconic RPG within the Elder Scrolls series. Arena and Daggerfall acted as a test of the pen, and many today consider Morrowind and Oblivion to be one of the best representatives RPG genre. Therefore, it is quite logical that the fifth masterpiece from Bethesda eventually took pride of place in the list of the best-selling games in the history of the industry.
Skyrim is a real milestone of the genre, setting the direction for everyone modern games with an open world. The price for the extended edition of the game is $59.99.
World circulation: 4.12 million copies
Half-Life is an iconic series. The game had a huge impact on the first-person shooter genre, and still no one has been able to surpass it. Hence the impressive circulation. And despite the fact that Valve has released quite a few amazing projects, Half-Life is considered to be developed by this studio.
Half-Life is an incredibly entertaining adventure, and the sales of the game prove it once again.
World circulation: 4.21 million copies
Prior to the release of the MMO World of Warcraft, the gaming community was playing Warcraft with gusto. Each new installment in Blizzard's revolutionary RTS series was unique in its own way, but Warcraft II: Tides of Darkness was unique in terms of sales.
The game was released in 1995 for the DOS operating system, but the well-developed mechanics provided Warcraft II with real immortality. If you love the RTS genre, but haven't played any of the Warcraft games before, then it's time to catch up.
World circulation: 4.84 million copies
And again, we have a project from Blizzard (by the way, not the last one on this list). More precisely, the next sequel to the successful RTS from Blizzard. Interestingly, Starcraft ended up being noticeably more successful than Warcraft. Today it is one of the largest esports disciplines, and Starcraft II, which has been in development for 11 years, has raised the bar for the quality of RTS games to a whole new level, improving all the advantages of the original dozens of times.
In light of the news about the upcoming remake of the first part, called it's time to refresh your memory and immerse yourself in the world of Starcraft II.
World circulation: 5.12 million copies
Yes, the photo under the title is not a screenshot from the 1982 game, but it is much nicer to look at. But the numbers under the heading are the actual sales of Microsoft Flight Simulator, released in 1982. This game was ported to the IBM operating system and used as a benchmark to show that the computer was "100% compatible with the IBM OS". And because copies of the game were sold decently.
Since then, several new parts of Microsoft Flight Simulator have been released, each offering improved graphics, interface, and controls. However, if you want to touch the real legend, you can find the original (albeit quite difficult).
World circulation: 5.14 million copies
The third Blizzard game on the list. Despite a rather tepid reception from the public immediately upon release, Diablo III sold over 5 million copies. Following the formula of the very popular Diablo and Diablo II, the third part showed what a modern action RPG should be, delighting gamers with addictive gameplay and gorgeous graphics for those times.
At first, many were annoyed by the need for a constant connection to the Internet, without which the game refused to start, but since then this shortcoming has already been corrected.
World circulation: 6.29 million copies
Warcraft may have been the first, but World of Warcraft proved to be much more successful in all respects. This MMO is the main reference for all other games of the genre, as well as an integral part of popular culture. The game managed to light up even in such famous shows as 20/20 and South Park. Of course, the current version of World of Warcraft bears little resemblance to the original, but it still enjoys the same popularity among PC gamers, and therefore it managed to take second place in this list.
The days of Vanilla World of Warcraft are long gone, but many remember this particular version with warm nostalgia.
World circulation: 8.01 million copies
It is because of this game that we decided not to include various DLCs in the list, because otherwise Sims variations would take more than half of the positions. The Sims 3 proved to be the most successful of all the installments, surpassing the legendary World of Warcraft by 2 million copies sold. Thanks to the insane popularity of The Sims 3, even people who previously stayed away from consoles (or from games on PC) turned into hardcore gamers.
Of course, The Sims is not for everyone, but the series should be respected at least for its resounding success.
The best of the best
These were the top 10 best selling PC games of all time. In different sources, information about their circulation may differ slightly from each other, but in general the picture looks exactly like this. These 10 projects deservedly hold the record for sales in the field of computer entertainment.
Each player chooses his favorite projects for himself, depending on his own preferences and, of course, the positive emotions presented by this or that game. But developers think a little differently, and more often they focus their attention on those projects that bring maximum profit and attract investors. If you are interested in looking at the gaming industry from their point of view, we bring you the TOP 10 most profitable games in history.
10th place: Grand Thief Auto 5
This list is opened by the famous, released in 2013 and having collected approximately $4 billion in total. To this day, the game does not lose its popularity, and in total more than 60 million copies have been sold in the world, which allowed developers to receive $3.6 billion, not to mention profit , which was also brought by the client online version of this game.
The company posted several news reports about this, which said that in total it earned only $ 2.3 billion, but in fact this is only the profit of Take-Two, the developer of the game, while the rest of the amount went to stores, platform holders and other organizations. .
9th place: Donkey Kong
A fairly old game that appeared back in 1981 and ranks 9th on our list, providing its developers with a profit of about $4.5 billion. It is worth noting that this is the first game in which you could meet the famous Mario, who did not yet have a name , but was presented on a variety of arcade machines, which today are almost impossible to find anywhere.
For one game in Donkey Kong, you had to pay 25 cents, and such monetization today is even difficult to imagine. Over time, the game was also ported to various consoles, which also brought a lot of profit.
8th Place: Wii Fit
The 8th line of our list belongs to the game Wii Fit, which was revolutionary at the time. At the moment, Wii is known to many as a console, in games for which the player must actually act, and not just press buttons, but not everyone knows that for those who do not really prefer video games, the company has released Wii Fit, a special board designed for fans fitness. At the same time, this board cost more than $100 and brought the company the largest profit.
In fact, it turned out that the Wii Fit game does not replace real charging, which doctors around the world have repeatedly written about, but at the time of this “revelation”, the Japanese had already received an income of $ 5 billion.
7th place: Lineage
Lineage II in the CIS countries has received a dizzying success, still never ceasing to please fans. However, few people even know that the first “line” exists at all, and since it is unknown, it must have been absolutely unpopular and of no interest to anyone. In fact, Lineage, released back in 1998, brought NCSoft a fabulous profit of $ 6.5 billion, and at the moment it is also on the list, and all this despite the fact that in fact the game is not popular at all except in its homeland.
Actually, this fact, most likely, is an excellent explanation of why Lineage III nevertheless returns to the canons of the first part and is in no way connected with the second.
6th place: CrossFire
Another game that brought the Asians $7.5 billion in profit only thanks to the Asians themselves, because it is not popular in other countries. This one is almost a full-fledged Counter-Strike clone released in 2007, which is just as capable of running on any machine, and whose servers are assembled online by 6 million people, which is roughly comparable to the online presence of all Steam games combined.
5th place: Dungeon Fighter Online
Another game that once again shows us that Koreans care much more about gameplay than graphics or sound. Horrifying visual performance on the NES and Spectrum levels hasn't stopped hardcore oldfag fighter Dungeon Fighter Online from generating $8 billion in revenue for developers, and even now the game brings its publisher about $1 billion in revenue annually, from a couple of years ago it was the most profitable game among all existing ones.
4th place: World of Warcraft
It would be strange if the famous master would not be included in this list, because this is the most profitable in the history of the gaming industry. Various "WoW killers" have appeared for a long time, but in fact, no one has even approximately achieved the success of this project.
It is worth noting that at the moment there is no information about the exact income of the game, but already in 2013 it brought Blizzard $8.5 billion. Despite the fact that “WoW is not the same anymore”, the project is alive and well, and who knows how much more Blizzard will keep it in . Now, periodically there is information that the game's revenue has exceeded $ 10 billion.
3rd place: Street Fighter 2
Opens the TOP 3 Street Fighter 2, which in 1991 made a real revolution in the fighting game genre, providing a variety of characters, all sorts of combinations and secret moves.
Throughout its existence, Street Fighter 2 brought its developers a profit of more than $10.5 billion. Basically, this money was earned thanks to numerous machines, of which more than 60,000 were produced in the 90s, and when the game appeared on consoles, it sold more than 14 million copies.
2nd place: Pac-Man
A world-famous hit of the 80s, which was originally released only for slot machines (of which there were more than 350 thousand), and subsequently moved to consoles. Initially, the game was developed as a competitor to Space Invaders, but Toru Iwatani believed that it was not worth making a violent game and decided to develop his own project in which there would be no need to kill someone.
Despite the fact that the game was not appreciated in the developer’s homeland, it was incredibly popular in the USA, although now the opposite is true - they are actively buying in the USA, while in Japan this genre is of no interest to anyone. In total, the game brought in a profit of $12.8 billion.
1st place: Space Invaders
Space Invaders is the 1978 game that closes our list and is the highest grossing game in gaming history. Space Invaders arcade machines have become an absolute hit in Japan, and it is worth noting the fact that the popularity of this game provoked a shortage of 100 yen coins in the country, since this was the cost of one attempt here.
Subsequently, the game was ported to the Atari 2600, which also brought considerable profit to the developer. The total profit, equal to about $14 billion, was achieved at the time of 1982, that is, in just 4 years of the game's existence.
Thus, the TOP-10 included only 3 Western and 7 Asian projects - 3 from Korea and two from Japan. Probably, for many it will be a surprise that there is practically no modern hit here, and the most profitable games were created only at the beginning of the development of the gaming industry.
Is there a perfect recipe for bringing a great game to market and selling it in record numbers? Judging by the best-selling games in history, no. Here we will talk about the first-person shooters Battlefield and Call of Duty, and about the Minecraft world constructor, and the prostitute killing simulator GTA V.
And now the riddle: what was the best-selling game in history? I'm sure most of you can handle it easily. But the answer is still at the end of the article.
World of Warcraft
The game World of Warcraft was released in 2004, by 2007 the number of users reached 8 million people, and in 2010 it exceeded 13 million. This is the most popular MMORPG in the world in terms of the number of subscribers, as evidenced by the entry in the Guinness Book of Records. Over the entire history of the game, more than 100 million accounts have been registered, and the number of players floats between 7 and 10 million people.October 2016 will see the release of the fifteenth game in the series, Battlefield 1 based on World War I. Time will tell if it makes it to the top-selling games list in the future.
call of duty
The success of the game Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2 became apparent in the first day after the release, November 10, 2009. During the day, the developers set a record and sold 4.7 million copies of the game, overtaking Grand Theft Auto IV in this parameter. Seven years have passed since then, but the game still evokes the warmest feelings for many.The game, on the contrary, aroused indignation among the deputies of the State Duma of the Russian Federation. In early 2010, as part of the spring session of the meeting, they began to discuss Call of Duty, proposing to equate games with extremist materials. It was about scenes of violence, namely, about the murder of unarmed people at the airport in the game. The "No Russian" level in the Russian version was removed.
In November 2010, Call of Duty: Black Ops broke the record of its predecessor - 5 million copies were sold per day. The total sales of the game exceeded 26 million copies in 2012.
On November 12, 2011, Activision announced that for the third year in a row, a Call of Duty game set a world sales record. Just a day in the US and England bought 6.5 million copies. Until 2013, 28.5 million copies have been sold.
This game is dedicated to the end of the Third World War and is a continuation of Modern Warfare 2. Personally, I consider this game to be the best in the series. But this is my subjective opinion, tied, perhaps, including on a nostalgic mood towards her. It is still nice sometimes to turn on the battle mode with bots for survival.
Pokémon Red, Blue, Green, and Pokémon Gold and Silver
In 1996, Nintendo released Pokémon Red, Blue, and Green on the Game Boy in Japan. These were the first games on the console from the Pokémon series. The three versions sold 23.64 million copies. As we can see, the popularity of Pokemon was already affecting the sales of video games, so the success of Pokemon Go is quite logical.Let's remember what Pokemon Red looked like on the Game Boy in 1996. With such graphical capabilities, then it was necessary to make excellent gameplay. Or the main thing is to choose the right characters, what do you think?
Two new versions of Pokémon Gold and Silver were released in 1999 for the Game Boy and Game Boy Color. They failed to match the success of their predecessors, but 23 million copies were still sold, making these games one of the best-selling video games in history.
In addition to the 151 types of Pokémon from previous versions, another 100 were added, for a total of 251 characters. To collect all the Pokémon, it was not enough to complete one game - for example, Gold. Users needed to trade Pokémon with players of the Silver version, as well as older games.
Some more ear balm in the form of old 8-bit music in Pokemon Silver gameplay.
Nintendogs
Long before the goat simulator, but after the Tamagotchi, Nintendo decided to make a dog simulator for the DS console. From 2005 to 2011, Nintendogs sold 23.64 million copies.In the game you need to take care of the dog, control is carried out using a touchscreen and a microphone. With wireless communication between consoles, you can communicate with other users.
Diablo III
The famous RPG Diablo III was released in 2012. The game set a record for the daily sale of games for personal computers - 3.5 million per day. In the first week, sales reached 6.3 million copies, and a total of 30 million copies were sold. Perhaps if Diablo III was released on several platforms at once, it would break Call of Duty records.Diablo III received a warm welcome, but fans who played previous versions, decided that the atmosphere is not the same. The colors are too bright, not enough gothic and so on. In this regard, they put forward a petition to Blizzard demanding to change the color scheme. The company refused.
Below is the Diablo III: Reaper of Souls expansion trailer.
And a little bit of humor - a television advertisement for a game for video game consoles.
super mario
Any such ranking should include Super Mario. If we were talking about gaming franchises, this particular character would come out on top. Super Mario Bros. game for the Nintendo Entertainment System (read "for Dendy" in Russia) was sold in the amount of 40.24 million copies.The game was made into an anime, a weird 1993 feature film, and, of course, porn starring Ron Jeremy. Nintendo had to buy the rights to two porn movies in order to bury them forever. But Youtube remembers at least such a small cut without, in fact, the main action.
Keep a slightly weird ad for a game straight out of the 1980s.
The list of the best-selling games in history included Mario Kart Wii, New Super Mario Bros., New Super Mario Bros. Wii. Each of these games has sold at least 23 million copies. But the total sales of all games in the franchise are 528 million units.
Grand Theft Auto V
The GTA games owe much of their popularity to the ability to roam the world freely and do whatever they want. If you want - crush people, if you want - complete tasks, if you want - kill prostitutes. because of last game Grand Theft Auto V was even banned in Australia.The game was released in September 2013 on 7th generation consoles, in 2014 on 8th generation consoles, and in 2015 on personal computers.
The PC version at 60 FPS and Full HD is amazing.
The advertising campaign of the game went off with a bang and with a scandal. On the poster below, you can easily recognize Lindsay Lohan, moreover, the game has a mission where you have to save a character with a biography similar to Lohan's story from the paparazzi. That's just on the covers of the game is not a famous actress, but the model Shelby Welinder. The actress sued Rockstar and lost.
In total, 65 million copies of the game have been sold.
The predecessor of GTA V, the fourth part of Grand Theft Auto, released in 2008, has sold 25 million copies. She was never able to overtake Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas in 2004 with 27.5 million sales. You can remember your childhood with San Andreas today on Android, only you have to pay more than five hundred rubles. Blasphemous to cash in on nostalgia.
Welcome to the Jungle - invite Guns "n" Roses to GTA: San Andreas.
Wii Sports
The Wii Sports mobile game went on sale in November 2006 and has sold over 82 million copies. The recipe for success turned out to be simple - the game was delivered right in the box with the Nintendo Wii in all countries except Japan.The game has received various awards for innovative gameplay. This collection of five sports simulations involves controlling motion with controllers.
Mobility in the game has become a double-edged sword. On the one hand, people began to raise their butts off the couch and spend time together playing exciting games. On the other hand, televisions suffered from this.
Flying controllers out of hand was not uncommon. Still, each of the sports in the set - tennis, baseball, bowling, golf and boxing - involves active waving of the arms. You can just forget that the bowling ball is rolling inside the game and try to knock down the pins with a plastic thing in your hand.
Minecraft
So loved by the younger generation, Minecraft has sold 107 million copies. In 2011, Swedish programmer Markus Persson, who founded Mojang, released it on Windows, OS X and Linux. A few months later, she came out on Android, iOS, and then switched to the Xbox 360 and One, PlayStation 3, 4 and Vita game consoles. In 2014, Microsoft bought Minecraft for $2 billion.The game has become one of the most popular in the world. In total, over 107 million copies have been sold. But why did she become popular at all? Why do schoolchildren love it so much, why do they constantly shoot videos on Youtube?
Perhaps, as in the case of GTA, the openness of the game world plays a big role. Minecraft gives room for imagination and creativity. You can hunt, you can build buildings and cities, or you can blow something up. And all - in a world similar to Lego. Almost everyone loves Lego.
Tetris
On June 6, 2016, Tetris turned 32 years old. This game has been on almost all gaming platforms, as well as graphics calculators and media players. Based on her motives in China, they want to make a sci-fi feature film. And this will be done by American producer Lawrence Kazanov, who is responsible for the film True Lies, and also took part in several animated television projects for Lego.
Why is there a calculator, you could play Tetris on the wall of a skyscraper
The game was created by Soviet programmer Alexey Pajitnov. The name comes from "tetramino" and "tennis". "Tetrominoes" are geometric figures of four squares. There are seven such figures in Tetris. The figures fall into a glass 10 cells wide and 20 cells high. The goal is to collect a horizontal row of 10 cells, which then disappear.
Over the history of the game, it has not only been ported to various platforms, but also the rules have been changed, complicated, and refined. Tetris was made voluminous, it was color and black and white, with a variety of musical accompaniment. Even the "physical" Tetris is sold. In 2009, designer Andrew Liszewski began selling his 360-degree version, in which the figure appears in the center and then falls to whichever side the player chooses by flipping the console.
The rights to use the game in the machines were bought by Atari. Nintendo received porting rights to the NES and Game Boy. Then, in the late 1980s, the game hit Sega. And in 1996, Pajitnov founded the Tetris Company to start getting money for his invention. In 2014, Tetris Company announced a deal to port the game to Xbox One and PlayStation 4.
As of 2014, the game had 425 million mobile installs, 35 million on the Game Boy, and about 70 million copies sold. It is difficult to say how many unlicensed cartridges and devices with this game were sold.
So Tetris is not just a leader, but an absolute leader with a huge advantage.
Let's now talk about your favorite games. It doesn't matter how many copies of these games have been sold. What did you like to play before, and what do you include now?
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