Games have always existed in a numbers-obsessed industry. Sega vs. Nintendo defined a generation in the ’90s, while today’s comparatively mild console wars and monthly Circana reports keep sales figures near the forefront of games-related discussion. New monetization models require new metrics for success — monthly active users, player retention rates, in-game revenue, etc. — but one of the industry’s biggest questions remains: What are the best-selling video games of all time?
To answer this question, we set out to compile the most accurate list possible by reaching out to publishers and digging through financial reports, news stories, interviews, and more. The result is the following list of the ten best-selling video games of all time.
Some notes up front:
- Pack-in games are counted toward sales totals, considering most games on this list were, at one point, bundled with a console.
- Free downloads are not counted as sales, which excludes massively successful games like Fortnite and League of Legends from a list like this.
- Due to a lack of available sales data, we could not include certain games that may belong on this list. For example, we reached out to Activision-Blizzard seeking updated sales numbers for Diablo 3 (30 million units sold as of June 2015) and the Call of Duty franchise but did not receive updated information to include those games on this list.
The Best-Selling Video Games of All Time
The Witcher 3
The Witcher 3 was added to this list in May 2023 when CD Projekt Red announced its seminal RPG passed 50 million copies sold. Total sales for The Witcher series sit at over 75 million. The developer is now working on several new Witcher games, including The Witcher 4 and a Witcher 1 remake.
Terraria
Terraria, the hit 2D sandbox game from developer Re-Logic. As of June 2024, 58.7 million copies of Terraria have been sold, according to the developer, with 32 million on PC alone.
Skyrim
Skyrim’s sales numbers, Bethesda’s Todd Howard revealed in June 2023 that the RPG has sold over 60 million units since it was first released in 2011. “We’re sitting here, it’s 12 years after Skyrim,” Howard told IGN. “We’re looking at a game that has over 60 million copies, and all these people playing… they’re still playing it.”
Red Dead Redemption 2
Rockstar’s western epic has sold “nearly” 64 million copies through March 2024, according to publisher Take-Two’s latest financial report. The series has collectively sold over 89 million units, putting the original Red Dead’s sales total around 25 million.
Mario Kart 8 Deluxe
Mario Kart 8 Deluxe remains the best-selling Switch game, according to Nintendo. Factor in sales of the original Wii U release and that total rises to over 70 million, good for the sixth-best-selling game of all time.
PUBG
PUBG has been such a massive sales success. Krafton creative director Dave Curd told The Verge it has sold 75 million copies of PUBG as of December 2021. While free mobile downloads don’t count toward its sales total, it’s worth noting PUBG Mobile had been downloaded over 1 billion times as of March 2021.
Wii Sports
Wii Sports is the company’s best-selling game ever. At nearly 83 million copies sold, it’s the top-selling single-platform exclusive of all time.
Grand Theft Auto 5
Grand Theft Auto 5 is the best-selling console/PC-only game of all time. Sales of Rockstar’s ambitious open-world adventure reached 200 million units by the end of March 2024. Total sales for the franchise sit at 425 million units sold. Rockstar is now in development on GTA 6, due out Fall 2025.
Minecraft
Minecraft has sold over 300 million copies as of October 2023. That figure captures the sale of both Java and Bedrock editions across multiple platforms.
