Top-Selling Games Of All Time

Posted by Stephen Johnson - Friday, June 06, 2008 8:00 AM

Forbes.com put together a list of the best-selling videogames of all time and revealed something about the national character of America. While the Japanese may go in for Final Fantasy-style RPG action, we 'Muricans like our videogames violent, salacious and blow-up-tastic!

Also: Games are not for kids. Not a single kiddy game or Nintendo cute-fest broke the top 10.

The top-selling game of all time (in pure terms of units sold) is, surprise, Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas, but as for the rest of the list, here's our challenge to you: Guess as many as you can before you click the cut.

Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas
Guitar Hero III: Legends Of Rock
Madden NFL 07
Grand Theft Auto: Vice City
Madden NFL 06
Halo 2
Madden NFL 08
Call Of Duty 4: Modern Warfare
Grand Theft Auto 3
Madden NFL 2005

Forbes:America's All-Time Top Videogames

Permalink Tags: Videogames

Comment(s)

Posted by tedcwilliams - Friday, June 06, 2008 8:14 AM

#11 on the list: You guessed it, Blinx 2.

Posted by cheesypoofs - Friday, June 06, 2008 8:19 AM

#12: Raze's Hell

Posted by tedcwilliams - Friday, June 06, 2008 8:22 AM

I'm a little confused by this story, because classic games like Super Mario Bros. (selling 40 million, but was bundled with the NES) and Super Mario Bros. 3 (selling 18 million), destroy the sales numbers of the list above. I don't know if those sales numbers are international or U.S.-only, but the stats given in the Forbes piece don't seem to sink up with past reports.

Posted by spotchlander - Friday, June 06, 2008 8:22 AM

"we 'Muricans like our videogames violent, salacious and blow-up-tastic!"

What about those four Madden games? Not cute, sure, but not exactly "violent, salacious" or "bow-up-tastic." Unless you're talking in terms of "BOOM! Now that's a hit."

Posted by Hrolf - Friday, June 06, 2008 8:22 AM

i thought a boy and his blob, and solar jetman from the nes era woulda been on there for sure

Posted by UltimateWar - Friday, June 06, 2008 8:24 AM

so this is just a hardcore game top 10??? because Mario 3 is the top selling game of all time, that list is just stupid!!!

Posted by btfosho - Friday, June 06, 2008 8:28 AM

forbes has been talking crazy videogame talk lately.

Posted by SingleCrow - Friday, June 06, 2008 8:43 AM

Now tell me, which arcade game ate the most quarters? :-)

GTA has 3 of those top 10. that's awesome.
Equally awesome, CoD4 not even out for a full year and already on the top 10.

Eventually, I'm sure GTA IV and Bioshock will make it up there.

Posted by dojita16 - Friday, June 06, 2008 8:48 AM

its amazing how hype works. i figured surely halo 3 would be on there, but halo 2 was. it also feels like a bunch of other games are missing, but probably because of the awesomeness of gta, and the.. umm... well.. sportsness of madden.

Posted by sparky2024 - Friday, June 06, 2008 8:51 AM

yeah, wikipedia lists the top 3 non budled games as:
1. Pokemon 20.08 million
2. Nintendogs 18.67 million
3. Super mario 3 18 million

Bundled games

1. super mario bros 40.23 million
2. Tetris 33 million
3. Wii sports 21.56 million
4. super mario world 20 million

this Forbes list seems way off...

Posted by Carpeljet - Friday, June 06, 2008 8:51 AM

this must be in terms of money made and not units sold.

Posted by dojita16 - Friday, June 06, 2008 8:53 AM

never mind, turns out the entire halo franchise only sold 14 million copies. i mean thats good, but from what we hear about it you figure it would have made more than grand theft auto 4 did in its first month...

Posted by Tmidiman - Friday, June 06, 2008 9:00 AM

I guess Forbes is not the source for videogame news and stats.

Posted by travelmaps - Friday, June 06, 2008 9:14 AM

if the forbes list is correct in any way i'm killing myself. madden being on there once would piss me off but 4 god damn times?! IT'S A GAME! ABOUT! A FREAKING GAME! ...buy a ball... MEET REAL PEOPLE... and play the REAL EFFING GAME YOU LAZY RETARDS!

Posted by brokeheart - Friday, June 06, 2008 9:24 AM

What idiot made that list? Man he was stupid. Everyone knows that halo 3 outselled halo 2. Everyone knows that super mario bros 3 is the best selling game of all time. And everyone knows that there is no way madden got on the list. There are hundreds of gamers out there that wouldn't touch a sports game(not to affend anyone) exept for racing games that naterlly sell more!
SIGNED: jack brokheart

Posted by bo300 - Friday, June 06, 2008 9:33 AM

What about God of War and Devil May Cry?

Posted by dext448 - Friday, June 06, 2008 9:37 AM

This list is way wrong.

Posted by saulpimpson - Friday, June 06, 2008 9:44 AM

is this just since 2000?

Posted by SpotRamer - Friday, June 06, 2008 9:45 AM

Bioshock wont have a chance to make it on the list untill it comes out on the PS3 thats why that cod 4 is up there cuz its on 2 systems!

Posted by Platformermaniac - Friday, June 06, 2008 9:45 AM

Yeah, the list apparently ignored Japanese games. The three best selling games of all time (not bundled) are all from Nintendo. Sparky already listed them. Maybe they were not included because Forbes could not get an exact unit count for those games. As far as Halo goes, Halo 3 is selling faster than Halo 2 but Halo 2 has had far more time on store shelves and thus has more units sold. The series sold pretty well but got completely owned by Nintendogs.

Posted by saulpimpson - Friday, June 06, 2008 9:49 AM

check the source link. is activisitor right? do the NPD numbers only go back to 1989? that would make sense.

Posted by LOAGEEKS - Friday, June 06, 2008 9:56 AM

Nintendogs? I don't know anyone who has Nintendog's, must be a non-US thing.

Posted by Ulrichgaming - Friday, June 06, 2008 10:03 AM

That's a ton of PS2 titles... that thing is almost 10 years old, and it's still top dog.

Posted by ps3_nig - Friday, June 06, 2008 10:14 AM

wow you guys all complain about some of the games on here, why would they lie about halo??? and there are alot of people who buy madden, people who play videos of 15 mins a week buy games like madden you idiot!!!

Posted by Platformermaniac - Friday, June 06, 2008 10:18 AM

Below are some links to sites that also list best selling titles. Forbes states that GTA: SA sold 9.4 million units. If the numbers from these other sources are even remotely in the ballpark of correct, then San Andreas never came close to breaking records. They also don't tell us if those 9.4 million copies were sold in the U.S. or if they are world wide sales. I don't know what percentage of sales were American for those popular Japanese games so GTA may actually have out sold Pokemon and SMB3 within the U.S. borders. I guess American games sell well in North America and Europe whereas Japanese titles sell well in all regions.

http://www.gunslot.com/blog/ top-twenty-five-25-best-sellin g-video-games-all-time
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki /List_of_best-selling_video_ga mes
http://blogs.techrepublic.co m.com/geekend/?p=926

Posted by woodinjww - Friday, June 06, 2008 10:24 AM

Hasn't tetris sold over 75 mil units overall?

Posted by zuma - Friday, June 06, 2008 10:26 AM

spotramer

Did you notice that Halo 2 Was an Xbox/PC title just like Bioshock, and it's on the list.

Psst, spotramer... Your fanboyism is showing.

Posted by Platformermaniac - Friday, June 06, 2008 10:27 AM

Tetris has to be counted as a series as there are many different versions on many different platforms. Tetris for Gameboy supposedly sold about 33 million copies. Just under Super Mario Bros(NES 40million). It is the second best selling game of all time withought restrictions.

Posted by SpotRamer - Friday, June 06, 2008 10:30 AM

I have a 360 no ps3 yet but I gotz the bread saved for the MGS4 bundle and then I will get bioshock 4 the ps3 cuz it will have multiplayer!

Posted by Towdow3 - Friday, June 06, 2008 10:36 AM

well it seems that list is a lil off, as are most stats and such. They have some good spin doctors there at Forbes. I should've gotten them to help me when i got caught cheating, lol. Who knows what that list is based on...

Posted by Towdow3 - Friday, June 06, 2008 10:43 AM

it also seems they based the list on all platforms and by units sold, but still san andreas was still on top? I still think its garbage, cuz gta isnt even on wiki's list on the pc side. I think its just media exposure plot.

Posted by Towdow3 - Friday, June 06, 2008 10:45 AM

Posted by OBAMAISBUSHpart3 - Friday, June 06, 2008 11:08 AM

It makes a lot of sense to me that Halo 3 is not on the top ten list of the most units sold because it is exclusive to a console (Brokebox 360) that is still BREAKING and DYING more than ever before over 2 and a half years later after it's American launch unfortunately,you feel me?

Posted by spiderfan05_100 - Friday, June 06, 2008 11:29 AM

That's just pathetic that a game like GTA always seems to make number one on almost everything, even though the gameplay SUCKS! And has no rich or original story line. we are one messed up nation

Posted by Sandrock323 - Friday, June 06, 2008 11:32 AM

Halo 3 hasn't even been out for a year. If it was on that list it would be insane, like COD4. Also Halo 2 is the only consul exclusive on the list. Still, I would have thought, after the all commotion it made back in the day, that pokemon would have been on the list. owell

Posted by Bookshelf - Friday, June 06, 2008 11:50 AM

lol the Playstation 2 owned the top five of the list.

Posted by sinister6972 - Friday, June 06, 2008 11:50 AM

I gotta say, that's a very interesting list. Two GTA games are on the list, not to mention the Madden games, Guitar Hero AND of course, the shooters! I gotta say, that's a VERY interesting list, is unique.

Posted by UnJaked - Friday, June 06, 2008 11:54 AM

wtf the madden games suck can't believe there are so many stupid people that buy that turd. They barely change anything every year and still people buy it what dumbasss

Posted by SkullOne360 - Friday, June 06, 2008 12:10 PM

Shenanagins!

If StarCraft isn't up there, it's wrong. Over 10 million copies worldwide! 4.5 alone to the USA while the rest is in Korea.

Posted by TKEmysterio - Friday, June 06, 2008 12:18 PM

This list seems bogus to me.

How is "Super Mario Bros. 3" not on there?

It's not even possible that Mario 3 isn't on this list. It sold 18,000,000 units world wide. So obviously a good portion of that is US sales.

There's NO WAY it's not at least on the top 10 list.

Posted by BlueHawaiiSurfe - Friday, June 06, 2008 12:46 PM

For starters did anyone actually READ the article?! Forbes didn't put this list together, they got it from NPD. Here are the numbers from another source...
Pokemon(RED,BLUE,GREEN) 20.8 Million Units
Super Mario 3 18 Million Units
Sims(PC) 16 million units
Nintendogs 14.75 million units
Pokemon Gold & Silver 14.1 million units
This list has GTA 3 at 12 million units for the PS2 alone.
Now the article says this IS an international list and does not include bundled sales. Super Mario for instance sold over 40 million units when you add in the bundle sales. So their list is probably close to accurate for US sales, as it states in the article for anyone willing to actually READ it, lol.
:o|

Posted by jcb231 - Friday, June 06, 2008 1:16 PM

I thought this list was just for games released since 2000. That explains the lack of SMB3 and others, even though I don't see that "post 2000" info in the article, I thought it was reported that way elsewhere.

Posted by blakseed - Friday, June 06, 2008 2:02 PM

I think this list is based on the most popular games in the past 10 years, not the most sold. ps2 killed it.

Posted by jargy1 - Friday, June 06, 2008 3:05 PM

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