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The Best-Selling Videogames of All-Time

 
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  • Posted By: Dangalf @ 11/18/2008 12:54:16 AM

    Comment: Wow, this is a real trouser-load of crap research piece. It should be more accurately titled: "The Best-Selling Grand Theft Auto and Madden Video Games (Plus Other Franchises With Recently Released or Upcoming Sequels Whose Publishers Paid Us to Include Them in This List)" Blatant and pathetic adverjournalism. Nice one, Newsweak.

  • Posted By: drrobert @ 11/03/2008 3:42:37 PM

    Comment: Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas; Sales: $379 million; 9.4 million games sold
    World of Warcraft + expansion: Sales: at least $880 million, not including $15/month subscriptions; at least 11 million games sold (current number of subscribers is over 11 million)

  • Posted By: johnny23 @ 10/17/2008 7:15:00 PM

    Comment: wow who wrote this trash bellow me and the majority of your facts are wrong and why are you even debating that garbage here? and oh yeah, a guy who spends 54 dollars a second and 4.5 million a day on just advertisements is gunna pull our economy back together, good money management right there, yeah your real smart, democrat

  • Posted By: cani77 @ 10/09/2008 7:06:36 PM

    Comment: In a few weeks we will make a choice that will decide our future.
    I follow an economist named Bob Proctor. He has called the top and bottom of every market crash since the 70s correctly.
    Also, he perfectly predicted the current real estate market meltdown and the picture he paints about what will happen in the next couple years
    is terrifying.He thinks it will be worse then the great depression.
    The banks in the U.S. are going under one after the other. Countrywide ,Bear Stearns, Lehman Brothers and Merrill Lynch , Fanny and Freddy Mae ,AIG
    The government took them over because they are essentially bankrupt. Even with the goverment nationalizing hundreds of billions of dollars in debt the stock market is crashing
    the credit markets are frozen and all of us may suffer beyond anything in the last 80 years.
    McCain just like Bush " doesn't understand the economy".
    That not just my opinion its his own words. Not only does he not understand how to fix it but he does not understand exactly what is broken.
    It is no surprise that he doesn't. The people that make up these securities use complex mathematical models very few people understand.
    Bush and McCain both can take the credit for this mess since they helped deregulate the laws that were protecting us.
    Bush's economic advisor Phil Graham wrote the deregulation bill that allowed banks to take huge risks with all of our future.
    Now, Phil Graham is the head of McCain's economic policy.He is also McCain's choice for the next secretary of the treasury.
    No one in this country can afford for that to happen. The last time Bush met with his economic advisors was in March. He didnt realize that anything was wrong. Phil Graham had the guts to say that we are in a mental recession after he helped create the worst economy meltdown in our lifetime. Check out this link to the truth http://my.barackobama.com/keatingvideo
    It will take the best and brightest minds in the world to get us out of this nightmare. As bad as Bush has done, McCain would be
    even more destructive because things are in much worse shape. The next president will not inherit a surplus like Bush did but a crashing economy and a 11,600,000,000,000 (trillion) dollars deficit. Most of it Bush created and it will take decades to pay it back.
    If you do what you have always done then you will get what you have always got.
    When it comes to policy Bush and McCain are the same 90 percent of the time.
    So why are the polls even close then ?
    Mccains team just said they no longer want to talk about the economy.Instead they would like to spend time talking about obama
    which means running the biggest smear campaign in history.
    They think they can just tell you lies and you wont be smart enough to see through it
    Let's teach him we are smarter than that .
    Elect Obama Biden 2008


    Check out this video of sarah palins interview and ask your self if she understands what she is talking about.
    http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=r36Xc0GG4iQ

  • Posted By: Charleana @ 10/08/2008 6:45:54 PM

    Comment: Who wrote this garbage? I can't find a citation on it. Sounds to me like the makers of Grand Theft Auto and Madden football paid someone to write an advertisement and disguise it as an "exclusive" new story. You're da*ned right it's exclusive, you're the only ones who got it WRONG. Sheesh, my six year old could do a better job of researching this article.

  • Posted By: RobinBowles @ 09/27/2008 11:29:25 AM

    Comment: A simple Wikipiedia search reveals that this information is simply false Most the the Super Mario Brothers line sold better than any of the GTA games. This information is unspeakably biased. For an actual list visit http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_best-selling_video_games

  • Posted By: EffYou @ 09/26/2008 1:25:46 PM

    Comment: I can't believe you idiots published this. It's like you didn't even bother to Google for a correct number anywhere.

    - www.civilsarcasm.com

  • Posted By: EffYou @ 09/26/2008 1:24:59 PM

    Comment: I can't believe this got published. Learn 2 Google. Morons.

    - www.civilsarcasm.com

  • Posted By: sparkly @ 09/26/2008 7:13:22 AM

    Comment: FilthyRichmond.com is teh taint.

  • Posted By: PaveHawk @ 09/26/2008 3:07:32 AM

    Comment: Now mind you I did total sales. I'm not getting paid to do this list like the person who put the BS one together. The way I see it it says says top 10 video games sales not top 10 us video game sales. That and if you haven't figured this out yet but for the most part the economy is global. I'd also like to add DO SOME GOD DAMN RESEARCH NEXT TIME!!!!! You were also wrong on the Pirates of the Caribbean: At Worlds End. Where did it take in 406 Million? The US take was 309.4 Million. The oversees take was 651.6 Million. This whole list is junk. That's what is wrong with the media today. They are in such a rush to get the story out they rarely check their facts.

    The real list of top 10 best selling video games.

    1. The Sims (PC) 50 million units sold

    2. Super Mario Bros. (Nintendo) 40.23 Million units sold

    3. Tetris (GB) 33 Million units sold

    4. Wii Sports (Wii) 26 Million units sold

    5. Pokémon Red, Blue, and Green 20.8 Million units sold

    6. Super Mario World (SNES) 20 Million units sold

    7. Nintendogs (N-DS) 18.63 Million units sold

    8. Super Mario Bros. 3 (Nintendo) 18 Million units sold

    9. Gran Turismo 3: A-Spec (PS2) 14.89 Million units sold

    10. Lineage 2 (PC) 14 Million units sold

  • Posted By: sphericaltime @ 09/25/2008 10:40:06 PM

    Comment: Uh, didn't you bother to check wikipedia before posting? Perhaps if you had you would have realized that even if you define "videogames" as just console games, none of the ones that you listed are actually in the top 10. In fact, your top game, "GTA: San Andreas" is the 11th best selling game. Beyond that are PC games, which are also "videogames," some of which have sold more than 40 million copies. The "videogame" industry has already eclipsed tHollywood.



    And

  • Posted By: sparkly @ 09/25/2008 10:36:08 PM

    Comment: This article is totally false. There is no conflict of opinion, every number and fact in this article is a lie, the author is a liar and a fraud. Don't you have editors for this kind of thing? The author should be bounced, I never really had an opinion of newsweek. But IMO you're now sub-enquirer. At least what they report COULD be true, I mean, it's "truthy" this is just outright lies.

  • Posted By: Suzyvegas6 @ 09/23/2008 3:39:17 PM

    Comment: Please get lets get the facts straight here.. This article is not complete and how can you allow
    it to go on-line. I have over 20+ years of gaming and this is artilce is so far off. Where are the other games? I'm not called SUZYVEGAS6 I live in vegas, I'm far from there. Let me tell you about a little game by " Tom Clancy" called Rainbow 6 Vegas.. I have so many other games that should have made that top 10 list.

  • Posted By: Suzyvegas6 @ 09/23/2008 3:26:38 PM

    Comment: You need to hire someone who knowns about the videogames industry, This information is not very accurate, they call me "suzyvegas" so for those of you not knowing.. I got the Vegas part from Tom Clancy's Rainbow 6...

  • Posted By: Voice.Of.Reason @ 09/23/2008 1:08:46 PM

    Comment: 10 Best selling video games of all time?
    Where are the other 5?
    The Grand Theft Auto Franchise is listed here 4 times, followed in second place by the Madden NFL franchise, listed 3 times.
    Echoing many other comments, where are the MMORPG games?
    World of Warcraft? City of Heros / Villans? EverQuest 1 / 2? ... The list goes on.
    Does the term MASSIVELY MULTIPLAYER not mean anything to the clueless author of this article?
    Another point to be considered is relative $ value - where you consider the older games baised on $ value adjusted for inflation (for example - by # of ticket sales, star wars is still the top grossing film of all time - although it has been eclipsed py $ sales many times)
    And if we go all the way back - how many quarters were spent on the arcade games of old, and how much is that worth adjusted for inflation?
    I guess real research is just too difficult for journalists today.
    Too bad for Newsweek.

  • Posted By: Gts211 @ 09/15/2008 4:13:21 PM

    Comment: This article a obviously written from the standpoint of someone who did very little research into the industry, as they did not include PC games into the list, which would have put any of these games to shame. World of Warcraft for instance, which I saw other users mention, has somewhere around 10 million subscribers. The key there is SUBSCRIBERS, not just games sold, meaning the revenue made from that game is rediculous compared to just basic sales of say the Grand Theft Auto series.

  • Posted By: thetylerhayes @ 09/07/2008 7:29:06 PM

    Comment: This article is rife with horrible innaccuracies.

  • Posted By: thetylerhayes @ 09/07/2008 7:28:22 PM

    Comment: Agreeing with many other commenters, this article is HORRIBLY innaccurate on many, many accounts.

  • Posted By: The.Paladin @ 09/04/2008 2:41:53 PM

    Comment: All of this would be drwarfed by World of Warcraft, which made in the $Billions (and were not starting with a decimal point). The article did say "Video" but it should have said "console".

  • Posted By: SEARogue @ 08/25/2008 9:37:48 PM

    Comment: I wonder if they took into account the number of PC's & gamers from ALL time & made the proper adjustments to the figures. I would think that Quake 2 would have been in the list IF they had taken all the facts into account. 2 of my MOST Favorite games EVER were Duke Nukem 3D & Quake 2 Expert CTF ! I know thousands & thousands of people played Q2, Heck I played it for over 5 years & the servers were ALWAYS full !

  • Posted By: 7thnemo @ 08/25/2008 9:30:06 AM

    Comment: some people like to calim that video games like the grand theft auto series provoke thier kids into stuff like underage drinking, sex at a young age, or even becoming violent just because there is some fighting in their game. i think that is insulting, as if we dont have any common sense. maybe in some cases were the kid is very young and impresionable, but thats why they have rating labels on the back of the case, to tell the parents if the game is bloody, gorey, and has swearing in every other sentence then obviously your 6 year old kid shouldnt have that game. but despite the content, if the game isnt that great then you basically wasted your money. like what vgp2008 and sstallionn7 said, a good game is one that you will beat and then youll want to do it again 5 times more with out getting bored. all these diferent sports gmaes like the "maddens" they release every year are basically the same thing, same sport, same rules. you might as well just keep playing the same copy every year.

  • Posted By: 7thnemo @ 08/25/2008 9:15:24 AM

    Comment: some people are claiming that games like the grand theft auto series might provoke their kids into underage drinking, or sex at a young age, or even makes their kids violent because there is a fight in the game. i think this is a load of bull, and i feel insulted by this. maybe in in some cases were your child is very young and easily impresionable, but the kids that are snacthing grand theft auto 4 off the store shelves are old enough to have atleast some common sense. the whole point of playing games is to just have fun, wether alone or with your friends, and then there is the point that vgp2008 has good games are the ones that you get captivated by you beat it and then you want to play it again and again.

  • Posted By: vgp2008 @ 08/25/2008 8:50:42 AM

    Comment: I feel that they should have a user submitted top ten. Buying a game doesnt mean a thing. I can go out and buy a game because everyone else says it is great and get it home and play it once and throw it aside and never touch it again. Replay value is the key.......I agree that a lot of these games are up there, because they are popular and have sold a lot of copies.....but what about the great games of the past? To me....Madden has nothing on Super Mario........Halo doesnt even cut it compared to Final Fantasy, but thats my own opinions........Get a top 10 user submitted game list, then lets see what the top games of all time are.

    • Posted By: Merk @ 08/25/2008 12:40:15 PM

      Comment: Uh.... this wasn't a list of the top 10 "best" games of all time... or the top ten "most worthwhile" games... did you even read it? You're suggesting that sales figures shouldn't have played a part in a list... of the top ten SELLING games of all time? Very odd...

    • Posted By: Merk @ 08/25/2008 12:39:35 PM

      Comment: Uh.... this wasn't a list of the top 10 "best" games of all time... or the top ten "most worthwhile" games... did you even read it? You're suggesting that sales figures shouldn't have played a part in a list... of the top ten SELLING games of all time? Very odd...

  • Posted By: habu_snake @ 08/22/2008 12:13:23 AM

    Comment: People need to understand that games aren't just something to "play". The days of playing Mario for fun are gun with the inception of MLG and the FPS tournaments for all sorts of games. Games are no longer just things to do at the arcade, kids are popping out with controllers in hand. Respect the gamers and respect the fact that this is a way of life for some people that just so happens to kick major ass.

    • Posted By: Merk @ 08/25/2008 12:46:30 PM

      Comment: Oh, come on. As a dedicated gamer myself, with all current-gen and last-gen consoles and handhelds (and a plethora of older stuff too) - and a game collection numbering in the thousands - I call shenanigans. The very *point* of games is to play for fun, except in very small professionally competitive circles. The bulk of gamers still aren't into competive gameplay, and those that are *still* do it for fun. You can make an argument for games as art - I'd nominate Ico and Shadow of the Colossus, among others. You can make an argument for games as a legitimate form of entertainment, and the source of a multi-billion-dollar market. You can make an argument that games are not for everbody, from the hardcode to the casual to the "I just want to train my brain or get fit with my Wii" observer. But calling games "a way of life" does not legitimize it or propel it into something more than a source of entertainment. In fact, it has the opposite effect, making you seem obsessed and irrational.

  • Posted By: buckethead69 @ 08/21/2008 7:04:42 PM

    Comment: where is mario kart wii fitness and halo 3 and ncaa 04

  • Posted By: buckethead69 @ 08/21/2008 7:03:57 PM

    Comment: where is halo 3 and mario kart

  • Posted By: Kitty4777 @ 08/21/2008 9:45:44 AM

    Comment: The majority of the problem with this list is how the information was gathered (Note how they used the manufacturers inputs). Many of the numbers were calculated by the DEBUT week sales figures.

    Any way, everytime Madden games win 'best game of the year awards' and 'best selling video game of all-time' part of me dies.

    • Posted By: buckethead69 @ 08/21/2008 7:07:03 PM

      Comment: how can u hate on madden they dont do anythign but make incredible games every year and make a *** load of money

      • Posted By: sstallionn7 @ 08/21/2008 10:39:59 PM

        Comment: A part of Kitty4777 dies just as I do because releasing Madden games every year is like releasing new Halo games without changing the maps..only improving the game mechanics slightly each time...it is still JUST football. I think I would be crazy to get excited about a new Madden game every year. I see football as a male version of Days of our Lives. They make the money because die hard football fans want the latest and greatest. I just won't take part in it. But I'm not a football fan.

        It is completely obvious that there is a huge fan base, so they are doing something right, I'm just not one of them. And I'm not taking from their success, just voicing my opinion on why I don't care for it.

        Remember, it isn't the actual video game that draws the consumers, it is advertising and the actual sport that brings in the majority of sales. It is "Madden"...the name sells.

  • Posted By: drpantsov @ 08/18/2008 12:40:23 AM

    Comment: As wikipedia is largely user edited, I think that citing it as a source of indisputable facts, is in fact, disputable...regardeless of the veracity or lack thereof of this list.

  • Posted By: Vihzel @ 08/17/2008 11:21:40 PM

    Comment: That list just is 0% correct. Wikipedia.org gives a completely different list. The Sims alone is 50 million sold.

  • Posted By: Vihzel @ 08/17/2008 11:20:23 PM

    Comment: F

  • Posted By: kadzx @ 08/17/2008 9:00:33 PM

    Comment: The actual top 10 best selling games of all time according to Wikipedia: Pokemon Red/Blue/Green 20.08 million, Nintendogs 18.67 million, Super Mario Bros. 3 18 million, Gran Turismo 3 14.89 million, Pokemon Diamond and Pearl 14.77 million, Pokemon Gold and Silver 14.51 million, New Super Mario Bros 14.16 million, Super Mario Land 14 million, Pokemon Ruby and Sapphire 13 million, Brain Age: Train Your Brain in Minutes a Day 12.98 million. I would think NEWSWEEK of all Ppeople could get their information right. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_best-selling_video_games

  • Posted By: YZFR1Freak @ 08/17/2008 7:38:11 PM

    Comment: This data should to be normalized to the number of consoles sold... In the past less people were gaming and consequently fewer games were sold. The absolute number of games sold if confounded with the number of people gaming. The best selling game should be determined by the relative (percentage) of gamers that bought it not the absolute number sold.

  • Posted By: Jonas42 @ 08/17/2008 2:51:53 PM

    Comment: Uh... Super Mario 3, anyone? 18 million copies?

  • Posted By: Jonas42 @ 08/17/2008 2:51:10 PM

    Comment: Uh... Super Mario 3 ring a bell to anyone? 18 million copies?

  • Posted By: TheNinthDoctor @ 08/17/2008 12:15:08 PM

    Comment: Halo 3 was made more money than any other piece of media of all time, movie or video game. The fact that it is not included on this list while seven of the slots are taken up by iterations of just two franchises proves that this article was not researched at all.

    • Posted By: journeysa @ 08/17/2008 12:40:24 PM

      Comment: Okay, you seem to have your facts WAY off. Mainly, Halo 3 has only sold about 8.3 copies worldwide, which as you can see, doesn't top the first two games on the list. It's not the highest grossing piece of entertainment of all time. It's not even close. Maybe YOU should research your facts before you blame others for not researching. Come on man, it just makes you sound dumb, and your points lose validity! Halo 3 does belong on the list, as do all of those other games! Who cares if it's all under one franchise? They are each separate games and their sales are tracked accordingly, so leave them be.

  • Posted By: TheNinthDoctor @ 08/17/2008 10:34:00 AM

    Comment: All this article does is take two well known franchises, throw in their past few iterations, and fill in the gaps with other well known games. It does not actually look at "the best-selling video games of all time". If it did, then Halo 3, notable for making more money than any other piece of media, be it movie, or video game, would be on the list.

 
 
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