Video games have been a part of everyday life for over thirty years, and they became an important part of our society and culture. Have you ever wondered how many copies of each title developers sell? When we see a movie in the theatre, we always hear about the millions they earned and the number of tickets they sold. One of the lingering questions is if video games are as popular as movies and how much they make.
Let's take a look at the popular video games that managed to sell most copies in this decade. Here, we will avoid mentioning several entries from the same franchise and try to list the ones that are not exclusive to a single platform or any other type of exclusivity.
Grand Theft Auto V
GTA is, without a doubt, one of the most selling franchises of all time. If we take a look at the top fifty most-selling games of all time, we can see that GTA takes five places with games like San Andreas and more or less everything after GTA II. That is the main reason we decided to start the list with GTA V. Besides, the updated GTA Online gave an additional flavour to it. You can create your character, build a house, and they even added a casino in the city. While casinos weren't part of the original game, in the online version, you can try to win blackjack games, play poker, roulette, slots, and probably anything else you can imagine.
One of the main achievements of the game is that it still manages to sell copies, and multiplayer mode is as popular as it was on its release date six years ago.
Everyone knows about Minecraft. The innovative, fun, and creative puzzle game initially came out in 2011, and since then, it managed to sell over 170 million units. Of course, the most impressive part is that Minecraft has over a hundred million players that are still active each month. Not only that this is the most-selling game of this decade, but it is also the most-selling one of all time. The second place on the all-time list belongs to well-known Tetris, and the third one is for GTA V.
Minecraft continues to be one of the best and most popular games in the entire history of video games.
Overwatch
Even though it is a lot younger than the previous two games, Overwatch already became on top of the most popular multiplayer games and an e-sports favourite. The game is a first-person shooter that continued the success and formula of popular games like Team Fortress and other MOBAs. The popularity of the game continued to rise since the release, and according to research, players in Overwatch spent over a billion on in-game purchases. Do check out my post featuring ten great gift ideas for Overwatch fans as well.
The Elder Scrolls V - Skyrim
The fifth instalment of the well-known and popular Elder Scrolls series created something new. This RPG was one of the first to develop such a vast world that you could explore and create your own path. If you love to play with magic, you can go and become a part of the mage's guild or become an expert in archery and focus on a different set of skills. It is no wonder that Skyrim managed to sell over thirty million copies since Bethesda released the game in 2011. Skyrim also managed to impress by selling over three million units of the game in the first two days of the release.
Diablo 3
Another sequel to the popular game series is Diablo 3. The game managed to break several records and is still the most pre-ordered game in history. They sold over thirty million units since it was released in 2012, and they also managed to sell over three million copies during the first twenty-four hours. This dungeon-crawler received praises as well as impressive sales figures. It is no wonder that Diablo 3 is one of the games on this list.
PlayerUnknown's Battleground
The game is only two years old and already reached the fifth place of the highest-selling games. While the whole concept of "last man standing" was present earlier, PUBG somehow created quite an impact redefining the whole battle royale genre. The goal of the game is to survive on the map that is continually shrinking over the course of the match by eliminating other players. The concept soon expanded with games like Fortnite and, this year's, Apex Legends.
The game kept getting on popularity in the past two years, and the players can even try a free-to-play version for smartphones. The game sold over fifty million units since its release two years ago.
Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 3
Another video game from the beginning of the decade, MW3 managed to outsell the previous two games from the MW franchise. The story follows MW2 continuing from the end of the previous game. Once again, the main focus of the story is Task Force 141, and it is the final instalment of the original MW trilogy or timeline.
While some say that the game is not as good as the previous CoD, the game managed to earn enough to end up on the list of best-selling video games in history. Interestingly, MW3 managed to sell several hundred thousand copies more than Call of Duty Black Ops.
Borderlands 2
It is rather impressive how the game managed to keep selling even after eight years. It was released in 2012, and it is the best-selling game by 2K. The game keeps the cartoonish graphics and unique humour and charm that the previous title had. At the same time, they managed to improve and add even more content and even more weapons. During the following few years, additional content kept coming, and the final DLC for the game came prior to the release of Borderlands 3.
The Witcher 3 - Wild Hunt
The third and final instalment of the Witcher saga came after many months of waiting and delay. Inspired by novels by Andrzej Sapkowski, the game is a direct sequel to the Witcher 2. Witcher 3 managed to sell over twenty million units since it was released in 2015. The game also receives praise for its cast, story, and music, winning over eight hundred rewards in total.
Red Dead Redemption II
One of the most popular and loved games finally received a sequel, and everyone was happy (except PC players). RDR2 arrived in 2018 for Xbox 360 and PlayStation 4, and it quickly became a hit. RDR2 follows the same western theme as the first part of the game. This open-world game broke several records since the release. RDR2 received praises for almost every aspect of the game. The game sold over twenty-five million copies since it was initially released.
