Stacy Conradt
The Quick 10: The 10 Top-Selling Video Game Franchises
by Stacy Conradt - May 14, 2008 - 2:37 PM

I’ve been obsessed with playing Mario Kart on the Wii lately, so you’re going to have to forgive my preoccupation in making today’s list. Guess which lovable plumber is #1? I prefer Waluigi when I’m racing, though…

The 10 Top-Selling Video Game Franchises by Number of Units

1. Mario, with sales of more than 200 million since 1981.
2. Pokemon – sales of 175 million since 1996.
3. The Sims, in a distant third place with 100 million since 2000
4. Final Fantasy, 80 million since 1987.
5. Grand Theft Auto – 70 million since 1997.
6. Madden NFL – 70 million since 1988.
7. Tetris – 70 million since 1985.
8. FIFA – 65 million since 1993.
9. The Legend of Zelda – 52 million since 1986.
10. Tom Clancy, including Splinter Cell, Rainbow Six and Ghost Recon – 52 million since 1998.

Not far behind are Nickelodeon (with SpongeBob games), Gran Turismo, Donkey Kong and Sonic the Hedgehog with 50, 50, 48 and 45 million respectively.

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Comments (7)

  1. I’m guessing this is sales by unit rather than dollars?

    posted by Ira on 5-14-2008 at 2:40 pm

  2. Ira – yep. Just changed the post to reflect that. Thanks!

    posted by Stacy Conradt on 5-14-2008 at 2:45 pm

  3. You must really be preoccupied with your Wii. I had no idea 175 was more than 100 million

    posted by chuck on 5-14-2008 at 2:45 pm

  4. It’s all about Yoshi on the track. My money’s on the green.

    posted by Kinglink on 5-14-2008 at 3:18 pm

  5. I prefer a breakdown by of sales by period of franchise giving a sales per year figure. How lucrative and how capitalised they have been, or consistently popular.

    My figures may be off as they were only hastily done.

    It would suggest that those games that have appeal beyond gamers have great potential. And of course we haven’t included the games that characters particularly such as Mario have helped support (or in fact supported whole platforms).

    Interesting stuff. Pokemon is apparently number one. With the Sims doing well too. But some of my family members could have told me that anyway. :)

    Comes out as (annualised figurre (years))
    Pokemon: 14.6m (12)
    The Sims: 12.5m (8)
    Mario: 7.4m (27)
    GTA: 6.4m (11)
    Clancy: 5.2m (10)
    FIFA: 4.3m (15)
    Final Fantasy: 3.8m (21)
    NFL: 3.5m (20)
    Tetris: 3m (23)
    Zelda: 2.3m (22)

    posted by Xencat on 5-14-2008 at 3:29 pm

  6. I agree with Kinglink, it’s all about Yoshi

    :)

    posted by Clotho on 5-14-2008 at 3:44 pm

  7. Pokemon surprises me. But then, I don’t now, nor have I ever, owned a video game system, so…I’m certainly no expert.

    posted by Bethany on 5-15-2008 at 10:30 am

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