Video games have been a part of the mainstream lifestyle for decades now and before the rivalry between PlayStation and Xbox ever began, there was the never-ending battle for supremacy between Sega and Nintendo back in the 90s.
The gaming industry is all about numbers for developers, whether it’s the number of copies sold, the number of players (both online and offline), or the amount of money made by a particular game, it all boils down to numbers. So that brings us to the question, what are the best-selling games of all time?
Player Unknown’s Battlegrounds (PUBG)
PUBG as it’s popularly called is an online first-person and third-person shooter multiplayer online game developed by a subsidiary of South Korean gaming powerhouse company, Bluehole. PUBG Corporation released the game in December 2017 on all gaming platforms including free-to-play mobile versions.
This Battle Royale style game sees 100 players parachute onto an island to scavenge weapons and equipment to become the last man standing. PUBG is a kill or be-killed game with an interval of decreasing map terrain to force surviving players into tighter areas to promote more encounters.
PUBG is ranked the fifth selling game of all-time as of February 2021 and despite the free-to-play mobile version being downloaded over 700 million times, the game had sold over 70 million copies on PC and game consoles as of the end of 2020.
The game received a host of positive reviews from critics and fans, and still holds a rating of 9.5/10 on IGN.
Grand Theft Auto V
Even seven years after its initial release, Grand Theft Auto V remained a best seller as it almost crashed a host of gaming platforms when it was on sale in 2020. GTA V is a fictional open-world, action-adventure developed by Rockstar North and published by Rockstar Games in 2013. The game is based on a single-player story centered around three characters, a street gangster Frank Clinton, a drug dealer, and arms smuggler Trevor Phillips, and a retired bank robber Michael De Santa.
Players control all three protagonists and also switch among them throughout their efforts to commit heists while under pressure from powerful criminals and a corrupt government agency.
GTA V allows players to freely explore the fictional open world of San Andreas and the city of Los Santos, including the Diamond Casino & Resort located in East Vinewood of Los Santos. The casino has received a lot of attention for its realistic recreation of a real Vegas resort, which includes a VIP Lounge, Lucky Wheel, slot machines, table games, poker, and even Track betting on horse races with bets up to $10,000. Because the casino is so realistic, players started debating whether the casino in GTA is rigged. While this is a valid question for real casinos, we must remember that the GTA casino is “only” a video game in which no real money is gambled.
GTA V became the fastest-selling entertainment product ever, after grossing $800 million on its first day of release and it’s the most downloaded game in the Middle East. Zayed Al-Ansari, founder of Arabic-Casinos explains this by saying “because gambling for money is still illegal in several Arabic countries, playing at the Diamond Casino is the closest many Arabic players will ever get to the real thing.”
GTA V is still one of the best games ever, winning multiple games of the year awards after its release. It has sold over 140 million copies worldwide and has earned around $6 billion in revenue to date.
Wii Sports
Wii Sports remains the best-selling single game platform of all time and it’s believed to have sold over 82 million copies worldwide. This sports simulation video game was developed by Nintendo and released at the same time as the Nintendo Wii console and exclusively for the Wii console.
Wii Sports is a collection of five sports simulation games like tennis, bowling, baseball, boxing, and golf. It is designed to showcase the motion-sensing capabilities the Nintendo Wii remote possesses. These games are played with the aid of the Wii remote, as players mimic the real-life actions performed in some of these sports, like throwing a punch or swinging a baseball bat.
Wii Sports was released to critical acclaim back in the fall of the year 2006 and became the go-to game for social gatherings and mini-competitions amongst friends.
Minecraft
Developed by Mojang, published by both Microsoft Studios and Sony Interactive Entertainment, Minecraft is a sandbox game available for every gaming platform except the newly released next-gen consoles. The game allows players to explore, craft tools and items, as well as build structures and earthworks in a generated 3D world with virtual infinite terrain.
Regarding Minecraft as one of the greatest games of all time won’t do its popularity amongst fans and critics enough justice, and it holds a 10/10 rating on Eurogamer. The game has sold over 200 million copies worldwide and had about 126 million active players as of 2020.
Tetris
When Russian software engineer Alexey Pajitnov created the game Tetris in 1984, I’m sure he had no intention of creating the highest-grossing video game ever. If you search for the best Arcade games in 2021, you will almost certainly come across Tetris. This tile-matching game helped launch the Nintendo Game Boy to stardom, selling more than 35 million copies on the handheld console alone. Tetris is believed to have accumulated over 495 million in both paid mobile downloads and physical sales, with 425 million coming from mobile downloads alone. The game holds the world record for the most ported video game ever and is available on over 65 platforms.
And now you wonder, what about Call of Duty? We agree, it’s definitely one of the most popular games and we recently wrote an article about the Best Call of Duty games.
This is a paid guest post.
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