list of best part of a series onvideo games platforms arcade game console game game console home console electronic game audio game electronic handheld handheld game handheld console mobile game online game social network game pc game linux mac genres action beat em up fighting platform shooter survival actionadventure stealth survival horror adventure interactive fiction interactive movie visual novel roleplaying action roleplaying tactical roleplaying simulation construction and management life simulation sports vehicle strategy multiplayer online battle arena realtime strategy realtime tactics turnbased strategy turnbased tactics massively multiplayer online lists arcade video games bestselling video games bestselling video game franchises highestgrossing video game franchises mostplayed video games by player count mostplayed mobile games by player count highestgrossing arcade games video games considered among the best game of the year awards video games notable for negative reception development game ai game design interaction design game programming level design video game art video game design video game graphics video game music vte this is a list of video game franchises that have sold or shipped at least five million copies unless otherwise stated numbers indicate worldwide units sold ordered alphabetically whenever two or more list the same amount the exception are the ones specifying shipments which have lower precedence than others listing sales franchise sales include expansion packs even though they are not considered full video games freetoplay game downloads including free mobile games and microtransactions should not figure into sales or shipment figures for bestselling individual video games see the list of bestselling video games the sales figures given below do not include arcade game sales which can be found at the list of highestgrossing arcade games for the franchises that have generated the most revenue see the list of the highestgrossing video game franchises at least 100 million copies this color indicates a subseries of a larger video game franchise this does not necessarily apply for series that are not video gamebased franchise name original release date sales mario july 9 1981 57014 million super mario series 32751million mario kart series 1254million mario party series 396 million mario sports series 37378million mario rpg series 1649 million other mario games 246542 million mario first appeared in 1981 in the original donkey kong before starring in mario bros followed by the super mario series of platform games the character was created by japanese game designer shigeru miyamoto and has since become the official mascot of nintendo owner of the trademark it is developed by various nintendo studios the mario franchise has expanded into other game genres including racing sports party puzzle and roleplaying games the franchise includes other media including three animated television series comic books a manga a film and other merchandise it is currently the bestselling video game franchise of all time super mario september 13 1985 32751million the super mario series of platform games began in 1985 and features nintendos character mario the super mario series forms the core of the mario franchise pokmon february 27 1996 30114million pokmon was created by satoshi tajiri founder and president of game freak in 1996 as a roleplaying video game for the game boy handheld game console soon turning into a franchise merchandised into anime manga trading cards toys books twenty films one of the highestgrossing animated film series and other media it is produced by the pokmon company which is a joint venture by the three companies holding the rights to pokmon nintendo game freak and creatures inc call of duty october 29 2003 275 million call of duty is a firstperson shooter video game series the series is published by activision and aspyr media and developed by infinity ward gray matter interactive treyarch sledgehammer games raven software neversoft and high moon studios with new games in the series released annually to blockbusterlevel sales the series is verified by the guinness world records as the bestselling firstperson shooter game series fifa christmas 1993 260 million a series of association football based sports games released yearly by electronic arts under the ea sports label and the first to have an official licence from the fdration internationale de football association international federation of association football the international governing body of football grand theft auto october 21 1997 250 million grand theft auto is an open world actionadventure video game series created by david jones and mike dailly the later titles of which were created by brothers dan and sam houser leslie benzies and aaron garbut and primarily developed by scottish developer rockstar north and published by rockstar games including ten standalone games and two expansion packs for the original game and two for the ninth it is the most successful video game franchise the united kingdom has produced and the bestselling actionadventure as well as open world series wii november 19 2006 2018 million the wii series of physical simulation video games was created by shigeru miyamoto in 2006 to help with the initial launch of nintendos wii console the first game in the series wii sports was included with the original wii console the sims february 4 2000 200 million the sims is a series of strategic life simulation computer and console video games created by american game designer will wright developed by maxis and published by electronic arts the series consists of four main games and a number of compilations and expansion packs it is currently the most successful pc gaming franchise of all time tetris june 6 1984 170 million tetris is a fallingblocks puzzle video game created by soviet game designer alexey pajitnov and released on a vast spectrum of platforms from video game consoles and computers to mobile devices and calculators with the version bundled with the game boy selling over 35 million it is the most successful video game franchise russia has produced and the bestselling puzzle video game series minecraft november 18 2011 154 million minecraft is a sandboxbuilding video game originally created by swedish game designer markus notch persson and developed by mojang originally a computer game made using java there have been ports released for home consoles and mobile devices it was bought by microsoft studios on september 15 2014 it is the most successful video game franchise sweden has produced need for speed august 31 1994 150 million need for speed is a series of racing video games published by electronic arts and has been developed by multiple companies in the past such as ea black box and criterion games the series is currently developed by ghost games with the games being released on multiple platforms it is currently the most successful racing game franchise of all time final fantasy december 18 1987 142million final fantasy fainaru fantaj is a media franchise created by japanese game designer hironobu sakaguchi and owned by square enix the franchise encompasses fifteen signature roleplaying video games alongside a number of spinoff video games motion pictures and other consumer products and interactive media madden nfl june 1 1988 130 million madden nfl is an american football video game series developed by electronic arts tiburon for ea sports the game is named after pro football hall of famer john madden a wellknown color commentator for nbc sports and formerly a super bowlwinning head coach during the 1970s with the oakland raiders mario kart august 27 1992 1254million mario kart is a series of gokartstyle racing video games developed and published by nintendo as a series of spinoffs from their trademark super mario series of platformer adventurestyle video games the series has spawned eight main games four arcade games and a mobile game sonic the hedgehog june 23 1991 12332million estimated 9782 million physical sales estimated 255 million paid mobile downloads the sonic the hedgehog series is a franchise of video games released by sega starring and named after its mascot character sonic the hedgehog created by game designer yuji naka and character designer naoto ohshima with time it has expanded into several animated television series manga and comic books wii sports november 19 2006 11512 million the wii sports series of physical sports games was created by shigeru miyamoto for nintendos wii console in 2006 its success led to the wii video game series of which it is a subseries the first game in the series wii sports was included with the original wii console lego december 1995 100 million the lego franchise includes many different games including original games such as lego island lego racers and lego rock raiders as well as several different licensed properties like lego indiana jones the original adventures lego batman the video game and lego harry potter years 14 assassins creed november 13 2007 100 million assassins creed is a historical fiction actionadventure open world stealth series developed by ubisoft montreal and published by ubisoft pro evolution soccer march 15 2001 100 million pro evolution soccer known as world soccer winning eleven in japan is a series of association football video games developed and published by konami at least 50 million copies franchise name original release date sales star wars may 1983 9460 million star wars is a scifi fantasy actionadventure video game series based on the popular movie series the series is published by lucasarts series within it includes lego star wars star wars battlefront and the force unleashed the legend of zelda february 21 1986 9272 million the legend of zelda is a high fantasy actionadventure video game series created by game designer shigeru miyamoto developed and published by nintendo resident evil march 22 1996 84million resident evil is a media franchise consisting of a survival horror video games series comic books novelizations five hollywood motion pictures and a variety of collectibles including action figures strategy guides and publications created by shinji mikami and developed by capcom tom clancys august 21 1998 82 million includes sales from tom clancysponsored games made by ubisoft including ghost recon rainbow six and splinter cell gran turismo december 23 1997 804 million gran turismo italian for grand tourer or grand touring abbreviated gt is a series of racing video games produced by kazunori yamauchi for the sony playstation gaming systems by polyphony digital gran turismo games are intended to emulate the appearance and performance of a large selection of vehicles nearly all of which are licensed reproductions of realworld automobiles since the franchises debut in december 1997 over 80 million units have been sold worldwide for the playstation playstation 2 playstation 3 playstation 4 and playstation portable making it the highest selling video game franchise under the playstation brand dragon quest may 27 1986 76 million dragon quest published as dragon warrior in north america until the 2005 release of dragon quest viii journey of the cursed king is a series of roleplaying video games created by yuji horii with character design by manga artist akira toriyama and published by square enix formerly enix halo november 15 2001 71 million halo is a science fiction video game series created by bungie and published by microsoft studios which was later adapted to eight novels several comic series a graphic novel numerous action figures and an anime series the series centers on an interstellar war between humanity and an alliance of aliens known as the covenant after bungie gained independence from microsoft in 2007 343 industries took control of the franchise tomb raider november 15 1996 67 million tomb raider is a series of video games formerly developed by core design and currently developed by crystal dynamics with publishing formerly by eidos interactive and currently by square enix europe the series centers on the adventures of fictional british archaeologist lara croft the franchise has spanned comic books novels and movies battlefield september 10 2002 66 million the battlefield franchise is a series of video games developed by digital illusions ce and visceral games published by electronic arts the games feature a focus on large maps and vehicle warfare over traditional first person shooters including robust online capabilities the oregon trail december 3 1971 65 million the oregon trail is a series of educational computer games that began with the very first edition originally developed by don rawitsch bill heinemann and paul dillenberger in 1971 and produced by the minnesota educational computing consortium mecc in 1974 the original game was designed to teach school children about the realities of 19thcentury pioneer life on the oregon trail the player assumes the role of a wagon leader guiding a party of settlers from independence missouri to oregons willamette valley via a covered wagon in 1848 just dance november 17 2009 63 million just dance is a series of dance and music video games that includes games like just dance and just dance 2 published by ubisoft and released on the wii it also includes games outside of the name just dance such as michael jackson the experience the games include modern hits such as katy perrys hot n cold and kehas tik tok to older songs such as the jackson 5s i want you back and donna summers hot stuff just dance is the bestselling dance game franchise on home video game consoles wwe 2k february 29 2000 60 million shipped wwe 2k formerly wwf smackdown then wwe smackdown vs raw then wwe is a series of professional wrestling video games released by 2k sports formerly by thq the franchise takes its name from world wrestling entertainments weekly television programs smackdown and raw the games are developed by the japanese game developer yukes donkey kong july 9 1981 5604 million donkey kong donk kongu is a video game series created by shigeru miyamoto when he was assigned at nintendo during the early 1980s to build a game that would appeal more to americans on the arcade hardware of radar scope a game that had been released to test audiences with poor results the arcade hit donkey kong led to the creation of both the donkey kong and mario franchises crash bandicoot september 9 1996 56 million crash bandicoot is a platform game series originally created and developed by naughty dog exclusively for the playstation the elder scrolls march 25 1994 52 million the elder scrolls abbreviated as tes is an action roleplaying open world video game series developed by bethesda game studios and published by bethesda softworks bejeweled may 30 2001 50 million bejeweled is a puzzle game first developed as a browser game by popcap games in 2001 a sequel to this game bejeweled 2 was released by popcap games in 2004 with a third installment debuting in 2010 along with two spinoffs bejeweled blitz and bejeweled twist monster hunter september 21 2004 50million monster hunter is a series of action roleplaying video games released by capcom where players take the role of a hunter in a fantasy environment and complete quests by seeking out monsters to hunt or capture at least 20 million copies franchise name original release date sales metal gear july 13 1987 492 million metal gear is a series of stealth games created by japanese game designer hideo kojima and developed and published by konami the series is known for its very serious and complicated story line but also has some hidden humor camp and running gags throughout the games the franchise also includes a novel a radio drama comic books and a toy line tekken december 9 1994 47 million tekken lit iron fist is a series of fighting games with development by katsuhiro harada and published by bandai namco entertainment formerly by namco originally an arcade game versions now exist for many consoles currently it is the most successful franchise in the fighting genre wii fit november 19 2006 437 million the wii fit series of physical sports games was created by shigeru miyamoto for nintendos wii console in 2007 it is a subseries of the wii series franchise pacman may 22 1980 43243 million pacman pakkuman is an arcade maze chase game designed by tru iwatani and released by namco during the golden age of arcade video games and is currently owned by bandai namco entertainment the franchise has spawned a series of ports remakes and sequels in addition to numerous unauthorized clones lineage september 3 1998 43 million lineage korean is a medieval fantasy massively multiplayer online roleplaying franchise by the south korean video game developer ncsoft it has become highly popular in south korea with subscriptions counting into the millions but is also available in chinese japanese and english language versions uncharted november 20 2007 417 million uncharted is a series of actionadventureplatformthirdperson shooter video games developed by naughty dog and published by sony computer entertainment about the adventures of treasure hunter nathan drake dragon ball september 27 1986 41 million dragon ball doragon bru created by akira toriyama in 1984 is an internationally famous media franchise it consists primarily of two manga series five different anime nineteen animated feature films a collectible trading card game as well as other collectibles like action figures street fighter august 30 1987 41 million street fighter sutorto fait is a series of fighting games developed and published by capcom which eventually turned into a media franchise covering comic books anime series and movies the first game was designed by takashi nishiyama and hiroshi matsumoto in 1987 for the arcades guitar hero november 8 2005 40 million guitar hero is a series of music video games published by redoctane and activision and developed by harmonix music systems from 2005 to 2007 before development duties of the series were transferred to neversoft starting with guitar hero iii legends of rock however it has been discontinued by activision in 2011 until being rebooted in 2015 harry potter november 15 2001 40 million based on the harry potter novels by british writer j k rowling the video game series six games for the first six novels and two for the last one a quidditch simulation game and four lego games has been developed and published by electronic arts lego harry potter was published by warner brothers civilization september 1991 40 million civilization is a series of turnbased strategy video games produced by sid meier the basic gameplay functions are similar throughout the series namely guiding a civilization on a macroscale from prehistory to the present day mario party december 18 1998 396 million mario party is a multiplayer party game featuring mario series characters in which four human andor computercontrolled characters compete in a board game interspersed with minigames most of the mario party games have been developed by hudson soft and published by nintendo though the arcade version was developed by capcom medal of honor november 11 1999 39 million medal of honor is the name of a series of firstperson shooter games set in world war ii developed by dreamworks interactive currently known as ea los angeles and published by electronic arts medal of honor spawned a series of followup games including multiple expansions spanning various console platforms and the pc and apple macintosh super smash bros january 21 1999 39 million super smash bros is a series of nintendo fighting games created by masahiro sakurai that features characters from several other nintendo franchises and a few third party franchises and is known for both its unique gameplay style and countless nods towards the companys history mario sports may 1 1984 37378million there have been numerous sports games in the mario franchise by nintendo the first sports game featuring mario was golf in 1984 diablo december 31 1996 365 million developed by blizzard north and published by blizzard entertainment ubisoft and electronic arts diablo is a dark fantasythemed action roleplaying game in a hack and slash or dungeon roaming style kirby april 27 1992 3578 million the kirby hoshi no kbi series is a fantasy video game series starring the character kirby developed by hal laboratory and nintendo and produced by nintendo the gameplay of the majority of the games in the series consists mainly of action platformer and puzzlesolving elements mortal kombat october 8 1992 35 million created in 1992 mortal kombat is one of the bestselling fighting game series and is known for its graphic content nba live october 1994 35 million the nba live series of basketball video games is developed and published by ea sports annually since 1995 after an extended hiatus nba live made its comeback with nba live 14 brain age may 19 2005 33 million based on the book train your brain 60 days to a better brain by japanese neurologist ryuta kawashima and distributed under the touch generations brand the franchise includes two nintendo ds games 3 dsiware titles and one game on the nintendo 3ds lego star wars april 5 2005 33 million a platformbased video game series where the player takes the role of characters from the films in minifigure form star wars battlefront september 21 2004 33 million the star wars battlefront series is a group of firstpersonthirdperson shooters based on the star wars films by george lucas pandemic studios developed the first two installments while renegade squadron and elite squadron were developed by rebellion developments lucasarts was behind the entire series publishing the latest installments is published by ea and developed by ea dice the witcher october 26 2007 33 million the witcher is an action rpg based on the book series of the same name by polish author andrzej sapkowski the witcher takes place in a medieval fantasy world and follows the story of geralt one of a few remaining witchers traveling monster hunter for hire gifted with unnatural powers mega man december 17 1987 32 million mega man known as rockman rokkuman in japan is a series of over 50 released video games from capcom usually starring the character mega man tom clancys splinter cell november 18 2002 31 million splinter cell is a series of video games endorsed by american author tom clancy which spawned a novel series in 2004 written under the pseudonym david michaels as a brand it is owned by tom clancys company rubicon and is licensed to ubisoft to make the games the characters of the game as well as third echelon itself were created by ubisoft writer jt petty fallout september 30 1997 31 million fallout is a series of postapocalyptic retrofuturistic roleplaying video games it was created by interplay entertainment gundam 1983 309044 million gundam gandamu is a video game franchise based on one of the longestrunning anime series featuring giant robots or mecha created by animation studio sunrise and currently published by namco bandai games james bond 1982 30 million the franchise based on james bond 007 the fictional british agent created in 1952 by british writer ian fleming consist of over 20 video games published through several companies like nintendo and electronic arts the license is currently handled by activision the best known game in the franchise is goldeneye 007 developed by rare and published by nintendo tony hawks september 30 1999 30 million the tony hawks series is a skateboarding video game series endorsed by american professional skater tony hawk created by game developer neversoft and published by activision nintendogs april 21 2005 2746 million nintendogs is a realtime pet simulation video game series developed and published by nintendo for the nintendo ds and nintendo 3ds handheld video game consoles originally released in three versions plus two additional versions all differing only in the starting available dogs to play with borderlands october 20 2009 26 million borderlands is a series of action roleplaying firstperson shooter video games produced by gearbox software ratchet clank november 4 2002 26 million ratchet clank is a series of 3d platformshooter video games the franchise has been developed primarily by insomniac games and published by sony computer entertainment for the playstation 2 playstation 3 playstation portable playstation vitaand the playstation 4 video game systems rayman september 1 1995 26 million created in 1995 by french graphic artist michel ancel the main character of the series rayman became the official mascot of the video game publisher ubisoft the rayman series does not include the raving rabbids series tom clancys rainbow six august 21 1998 26 million initially developed by red storm entertainment while the rainbow six novel was being written by tom clancy the tactical shooter franchise soon spawned a number of sequels and expansion packs red storm was later acquired by ubisoft who currently develops and publishes the games animal crossing april 14 2001 2525 million animal crossing known in japan as dbutsu no mori lit animal forest is a video game series developed by nintendo in which the player lives hisher own virtual life in real time counterstrike november 8 2000 25 million counterstrike is a series of tactical firstperson shooter games that began as a mod for the game halflife the series has since been developed by valve corporation and published by sierra entertainment and valve bioshock august 21 2007 25 million shipped bioshock is a video game series developed by irrational gamesthe first under the name 2k boston2k australia and designed by ken levine marvel 1982 25 million based on comic book superheroes the franchise includes games from spiderman and xmen published by activision tom clancys ghost recon november 13 2001 25 million ghost recon is a series of military tactical shooter video games created by red storm entertainment the game development studio founded by american author tom clancy tiger woods pga tour 1998 25 million tiger woods pga tour is a series of video games developed and published by electronic arts featuring professional golfer tiger woods among other professionals on the pga tour puyo puyo october 25 1991 25 million puyo poyo puyo puyo previously localized as puyo pop is a series of computer puzzle games created in 1991 by compile for various video game systems sega acquired the rights to the franchise with development currently by sonic team petz 1995 24 million petz which includes brands like dogz and catz is a series of games in which the player can adopt raise care for and breed their own virtual pets kingdom hearts march 28 2002 24 million kingdom hearts kingudamu htsu is a series of action roleplaying games developed and published by square enix previously by square and is owned by the walt disney company it is the result of a collaboration between disney interactive studios and square enix and is under the direction of tetsuya nomura a longtime square enix character designer mario sonic november 6 2007 2278million mario sonic is a crossover sports game series featuring characters from the mario and sonic the hedgehog franchises gears of war november 7 2006 22 million gears of war is a tactical thirdperson shooter video game developed by epic games and published by microsoft game studios revolving about a war between humans and creatures known as locust in the fictional planet sera batman 1986 22 million batman is a series of video games based on the dc comics character and developed by ocean software atari sunsoft acclaim ea and rocksteady yugioh july 1998 218 million based on the japanese anime and manga franchise yugioh ygi lit game king created by kazuki takahashi all related video games are produced by konami god of war march 22 2005 2165 million god of war is a series of actionadventure video games loosely based on greek mythology originally created by david jaffe and developed by sce santa monica studio main installments as well as ready at dawn portable installments and javaground mobile installment the multimedia franchises central story revolves around the spartan warrior kratos who is on a path of vengeance to rid himself of the nightmares of murdering his wife and child and the betrayal by his father zeus and the olympian gods jikky powerful pro yaky 1994 214 million jikky powerful pro yaky known as power pros to nonjapanese speakers is a traditionally japanonly baseball series created by konami it is known for its bigheaded characters and arcadestyle gameplay imagine february 21 2007 21 million imagine is a series of video games by ubisoft aimed primarily at girls aged 6 to 14 released from 2007 onwards yoshi december 14 1991 2065 million the yoshi video game series is a franchise of platform games and puzzle games that is a spinoff of the mario series published and produced by the japanese gaming company nintendo the series revolves around yoshi a green dinosaurlike character prince of persia october 3 1989 20 million prince of persia is a video game franchise created by jordan mechner originally developed and published by brderbund then the learning company and currently ubisoft the franchise is built around a series of actionadventure games focused on various incarnations of the eponymous prince age of empires october 26 1997 20 million age of empires is a series of realtime strategy video games developed by nowdefunct ensemble studios and gas powered games and published by microsoft studios there are eight titles in the series four of which are expansions and a spinoff titled age of mythology castlevania september 26 1986 20 million castlevania is a video game series created and developed by konami originally released as akumaj dracula akumaj dorakyura lit devils castle dracula the franchise spawned a number of action figures and a future movie far cry march 23 2004 20 million far cry is a firstperson shooter video game franchise originally developed by crytek for the microsoft windows and later by ubisoft montreal for microsoft windows playstation 3 xbox xbox 360 and wii and published by ubisoft frogger june 5 1981 20 million an arcade franchise developed and currently owned by konami the first entry in the series was released worldwide by sega and gremlin industries in 1981 frogger has seen numerous sequels for a number of systems including computers and video game consoles the given sales figure does not include arcade game sales jb harold august 1986 20 million jb harold is a series of mystery adventure games it began with jb harold murder club released by riverhillsoft for the nec pc98 computer in 1986 and the series has since been released on various platforms lemmings february 14 1991 20 million lemmings is a puzzle video game developed by dma design now rockstar north and owned by psygnosis now sony computer entertainment liverpool who published it in 1991 originally for the commodore amiga simple 1998 20 million the simple series are a number of series of budgetpriced video games published by japanese company d3 publisher and developed by a variety of companies covering many systems singstar may 21 2004 20 million singstar is a competitive karaoke video game series for the playstation family published by sony computer entertainment europe and developed by london studio fifteen englishlanguage installments of the series have been released for the playstation 2 with recent versions also released for the playstation 3 spongebob squarepants march 15 2001 20 million spongebob squarepants is an american animated television series and media franchise the games were formerly published by thq and currently published by activision spyro the dragon september 10 1998 20 million spyro the dragon is a platform game series with development by insomniac games before handling development duties to alternate developers publishing was provided by universal interactive before being transferred over to sierra entertainment and currently owned and published by activision the series stars the video game character spyro a purple european dragon the franchise expanded to several other platforms including portable and mobile applications total war june 13 2000 20 million total war is a computer strategy game series developed by the creative assembly and owned and published by sega its games combine turnbased strategy and resource management with realtime tactical control of battles at least 10 million copies franchise name original release date sales driver june 30 1999 19 million driver is a series of missionbased driving video games for playstation playstation 2 xbox wii playstation portable game boy advance mobile phones and pc developed by reflections interactive in newcastle upon tyne uk it was originally published by gt interactive later by atari and currently by ubisoft warcraft january 15 1994 19 million warcraft is a fictional universe in which a series of games and books published by blizzard entertainment are set the franchise also includes tabletop games collectible card games and a film figure does not include world of warcraft and hearthstone midnight club october 26 2000 185 million shipped midnight club is a series of free roam racing games within metropolitan areas developed by rockstar san diego and published by rockstar games football manager november 5 2004 181million football manager is a series of association football management simulation games developed by sports interactive and published by sega the game began its life in 1992 as championship manager however following the breakup of their partnership with original publishers eidos interactive sports interactive lost the naming rights and rebranded the game football manager with their new publishers sega wario january 21 1994 1805 million the wario franchise comprises various video games created by nintendo starring the character wario the franchise began with wario land super mario land 3 the first game to feature wario as a playable character and gained many further installments the wario series includes mostly platforming video games and minigame compilations but also includes other genres it is a spinoff of the mario franchise teenage mutant ninja turtles february 1 1989 18 million a video game franchise based on the media franchise of the same name dynasty warriors february 28 1997 18 million dynasty warriors shin sangokumus lit true unrivaled three kingdoms is a series of tactical action video games created by koei which began as a spinoff of koeis turnbased strategy romance of the three kingdoms series based loosely around the chinese epic of the same name simcity february 2 1989 18 million simcity is an openended citybuilding video game series and the brainchild of developer will wright it was published by maxis now a division of electronic arts rock band november 20 2007 18 million rock band is a series of music video games developed by harmonix music systems and mtv games and distributed by electronic arts for the playstation 2 3 and 4 xbox 360 and xbox one and wii game consoles the series expands upon harmonix earlier work on the guitar hero series and allows for up to four players to virtually perform rock music songs on lead guitar bass guitar drums keyboard and vocals using special controllers modeled after musical instruments mass effect november 20 2007 17 million mass effect is a series of scifi thirdperson action roleplaying games developed by the canadian company bioware edmonton metroid august 6 1986 1744 million the metroid metoroido is a series of science fictionbased video games produced by nintendo spanning through several nintendo systems like the famicom disk system nes game boy super nes game boy advance nintendo gamecube nintendo ds and wii starcraft april 1 1998 17 million starcraft is a science fiction media franchise created by chris metzen and bill roper and owned by blizzard entertainment the series has grown to include a number of other games as well as eight novels two amazing stories articles a board game and other licensed merchandise such as collectible statues and toys zuma december 12 2003 17 million zuma is a fastpaced puzzle game developed by popcap games it can be played for free online at several web sites and can be purchased for a number of platforms including pdas mobile phones and the ipod an enhanced version called zuma deluxe is available for purchase in windows and mac os x versions and as an xbox live arcade download for the xbox 360 and a playstation network download for the playstation 3 nba 2k november 10 1999 17 million shipped nba 2k is a basketball video game series that was initially exclusive for the dreamcast starting in 1999 the series was originally published by sega under the label sega sports now published by 2k sports and developed by visual concepts devil may cry august 23 2001 17 million devil may cry is a series of video games set in the modern day created by hideki kamiya and developed by capcom megami tensei september 11 1987 165million megami tensei is a franchise of roleplaying video games created by atlus and owned by sega it includes the persona subseries tales december 15 1995 16 million the tales teiruzu series is a media franchise of roleplaying video games created by wolf team and formerly published by namco the series is currently developed and published by bandai namco entertainment forza motorsport march 27 2005 16 million forza is a semisimulation racing video game franchise made for the xbox brand of consoles owned by microsoft studios a direct competitor to the playstationexclusive gran turismo series forza is known for its high level of vehicle customization features including a car vinyl editor the series is divided between two series the original trackfocused forza motorsport developed by american developer turn 10 studios and the 2012debuted open worldfocused forza horizon primarily developed by british developer playground games halflife november 19 1998 16 million halflife is a science fiction firstperson shooter computer series developed and published by valve corporation naruto ultimate ninja october 23 2003 16million naruto ultimate ninja naruto narutimetto hr is a series of 3d computer graphics fighting games based on the popular manga and anime series naruto they are developed by cyberconnect2 and published by bandai namco entertainment formerly by bandai super robot wars april 20 1991 16 million super robot wars is a series of tactical roleplaying video games produced by banpresto a japanese division of bandai namco entertainment starting out as a spinoff of the compati hero series the main feature of the franchise is having a story that crosses over several popular mecha anime manga and video games allowing characters and mecha from different titles to team up or battle one another jak and daxter december 4 2001 1592 million jak and daxter is a series of open world 3d platformshooterracing video games originally developed by naughty dog and published by sony computer entertainment for the playstation 2 the franchise has appeared on the playstation portable playstation vita and playstation 3 video game systems bemani december 1997 1584 million the bemani franchise was created by konamis music video game division it began with beatmania in 1997 and was then expanded with other arcade rhythm game series such as dance dance revolution guitar freaks and drum mania red dead may 18 2010 1535 million shipped red dead is a western video game franchise published by rockstar games it began as a cancelled capcom production red dead revolver which was later completed by rockstar and expanded into a franchise backyard sports october 24 1997 15 million backyard sports is a series of video games that play on both consoles and computers the series is best known for starring kidsized versions of popular professional sports stars such as albert pujols paul pierce barry bonds tim duncan kevin garnett tom brady alex rodriguez joe thornton and andy macdonald the backyard sports series is the only game brand licensed by all the leading professional us sports leagues mlb nba nfl nhl and mls barbie 1984 15 million based on the barbie doll made by mattel the video games are currently published by activision burnout november 11 2001 15 million burnout is a series of highspeed racing games for game consoles the game series was developed by criterion games published by acclaim and later electronic arts gex november 16 1994 15 million gex is a platformer video game series developed by crystal dynamics and owned formerly by eidos interactive and currently by square enix europe it details the adventures of an anthropomorphic gecko named gex who travels through the media dimension to stop emperor rez hitman november 2000 15 million hitman is a video game franchise available on pc as well as several video game consoles including playstation 3 playstation 2 xbox 360 xbox and nintendo gamecube developed by the danish company io interactive and formerly published by eidos interactive and square enix europe the plot focuses on an extremely skilled clone assassin who is sent to silently kill the worlds most powerful criminals professor layton february 15 2007 15 million the professor layton series reitonkyju series is a puzzle adventure game series for the nintendo ds currently consisting of six games developed by level 5 as well as a crossover title each title is based in a series of puzzles and mysteries given by the citizens of towns that the main characters visit it is not necessary to solve all the puzzles to progress but some are mandatory and at certain points in the game a minimum number of puzzles must be solved before the plot may continue ace combat june 30 1995 14 million ace combat is an arcadestyle combat flight simulation video game franchise published by the japanese company bandai namco entertainment formerly by namco although typically set in a fictional universe many details are similar to reallife wars and the franchise features actual presentday aircraft in addition to fictional ones souls february 5 2009 147 million souls is an action roleplaying game series created and developed by fromsoftware rollercoaster tycoon march 31 1999 144 million rollercoaster tycoon is a series of video games that simulate amusement park management each game in the series challenges players with openended amusement park management and development and also allows players to construct and customize their own unique roller coasters raving rabbids november 14 2006 14 million raving rabbids is a party video games and a spinoff to rayman developed and published by ubisoft worms 1995 14 million worms is a series of turnbased video games developed by team17 players control a small platoon of worms across a deformable landscape battling other computer or playercontrolled teams the games concept was devised by andy davidson guild wars april 28 2005 138 million guild wars is an episodic series of multiplayer online roleplaying games created by arenanet a seattle game development studio and a subsidiary of the south korean game publisher ncsoft soulcalibur december 1995 1338 million the soulcalibur series is a weapon based fighting game series of arcade games each installment has its own version on a home console formerly by namco and currently by bandai namco entertainment pokmon mystery dungeon november 17 2005 1307 million pokmon mystery dungeon is a roguelike spinoff series of pokmon with ten games across four platforms it was first developed and published by chunsoft and later spike chunsoft saints row august 29 2006 13 million saints row is a popular video game series created by volition the gameplay consists of a mixture of action adventure and driving and has gained controversy for its adult nature and violent themes the games in the series are written as comedies that feature popular culture homages and parodies as well as selfreferential humor myst september 24 1993 13 million the myst franchise consists of a series of adventure games and novels centering on the storyline of atrus and his family who are descendants of the fallen dni civilizationa subterranean city whose people could link to other universes by writing a descriptive book about that world dead rising august 8 2006 13 million dead rising deddo raijingu is a series of survival horror actionadventure games developed by capcom and produced by keiji inafune cooking mama march 23 2006 12 million cooking mama kukkingu mama is a series of cookery simulationstyled minigame compilation video games developed by cooking mama limited formerly known as office create and published by taito in japan and for the iphone os majesco entertainment in north america and 505 games in europe socom august 27 2002 12 million socom is a series of thirdperson shooter video games created by zipper interactive the games focus on various teams of united states navy seals completing missions with occasional help from other special operations forces from around the world such as the sas sbs and grom star fox february 21 1993 12 million star fox sutfokkusu is a video game series created by shigeru miyamoto from nintendo during the early 1990s the original game was a forwardscrolling 3d scifi rail shooter later sequels added more directional freedom as the series progressed the game concept was inspired by a shrine to a fox god who could fly which shigeru miyamoto visited regularly the shrine was accessible through a series of arches thus inspiring the gameplay splatoon may 18 2015 118 million splatoon is a thirdperson shooter series developed by nintendo gameplay centers around characters known as inklingsbeings that can transform between humanoid and squid forms and hide or swim through colored ink sprayed on surfaces using gun bucket or brushbased weaponry yakuza december 8 2005 11million yakuza is an open world actionadventure game franchise created and published by sega left 4 dead october 17 2008 11 million shipped left 4 dead is a series of cooperative firstperson shooter video games produced by valve corporation adventure island september 12 1986 10 million adventure island takahashi meijin no bouken jima lit master takahashis adventure island also known as hudsons adventure island is a platform game series developed by hudson soft arma november 10 2006 10 million arma is a series of first person tactical military shooters on with large elements of realism and simulation asphalt november 21 2004 10 million asphalt urban gt is a series of racing games developed by gameloft and published by ubisoft for portable platforms including nintendo ds playstation portable and mobile phones bomberman july 1983 10 million bomberman is a strategic mazebased computer and video game franchise originally developed and published by hudson soft and is currently owned by konami the original game was published in 1983 buzz october 21 2005 10 million buzz is a series of video games originated by sleepydog ltd developed by relentless software and published by sony computer entertainment europe for the playstation 2 console they are quiz games that sees the players answering trivia questions whilst competing in the fictional game show buzz colin mcrae rally july 1998 10 million colin mcrae rally is a racing video game series developed and published by codemasters the series is named after the late world rally championship driver colin mcrae who provided technical advice during development deer hunter december 31 1997 10 million deer hunter is a firstperson shooting game series of north american video games published by wizardworks a division of infogrames the lord of the rings october 21 2002 10 million based on the series of movies the lord of the rings by peter jackson the series include the lord of the rings the two towers and the lord of the rings the return of the king published by electronic arts momotaro dentetsu october 26 1987 10 million momotaro dentetsu momotar dentetsu momotar electric railway also known by the abbreviated name momotetsu is a longrunning board gamestyle video game series in japan the game mechanics are often compared to the board games sugoroku and monopoly pitfall april 20 1982 10 million pitfall is a series of platform games developed by activision the settlers june 30 1993 10 million the settlers also known as serf city original german title die siedler is a slowpaced real time strategy video game by german developer blue byte chain chronicle july 26 2013 10 million chain chronicle is a tower defense roleplaying franchise created and published by sega at least 5 million copies franchise name original release date sales saga december 15 1989 99 million saga is a series of open world roleplaying video games formerly produced by square and is currently owned by square enix scoobydoo december 15 1983 99 million scoobydoo is a series of video games based on the cartoon franchise of the same name dead or alive november 26 1996 945 million dead or alive deddo oa araibu is a video game series produced by tecmo that comprises primarily fighting games the story and characters are the creation of tomonobu itagaki and the game was developed by tecmos team ninja development team persona september 20 1996 93million persona is a subseries of the megami tensei roleplaying game franchise created by atlus and owned by sega luigi january 21 1994 905 million the luigi video game series is a franchise of survival horror platform games and puzzle games that is a spinoff of the mario franchise published and produced by nintendo the series revolves around luigi marios brother ea sports nascar series october 31 1997 9 million ea sports nascar series was a series of nascar video games published by ea sports the series began with nascar 98 and nascar 99 in 1997 and 1998 respectively ea sports then released nascar thunder 2002 in 2001 and ever since then jeff gordon 2002 dale earnhardt jr 2003 and tony stewart 2004 were on the cover after nascar kart racing was released in 2009 for the wii eas contract with nascar has since expired payday the heist october 18 2011 9 million payday the heist is a downloadable cooperative firstperson shooter video game developed by overkill software and published by sony online entertainment payday2 was released in 2013 and will continued to be supported by overkill software until 2017 marvel vs capcom september 9 1996 88 million marvel vs capcom vs mburu bsasu kapukon is a series of fighting games developed and published by capcom featuring characters from marvel comics and capcoms own video game franchises doom december 10 1993 85 million doom is a series of video games by id software and several licensed properties have been based on the series onimusha january 25 2001 8 million onimusha lit oni warrior is a series of actionadventure games by capcom the series makes use of the historic figures that shaped japans history retelling their stories with supernatural elements cars june 6 2006 8 million cars is a video game based on the disneypixar film cars it serves as a noncanon sequel to it spiderman 1982 8 million numerous electronic games featuring the popular marvel comics superhero spiderman have been released to date spiderman has made appearances on over 15 gaming platforms which also includes mobile games on cellphones zoo tycoon october 17 2001 8 million the zoo tycoon series is a video game series that began in 2001 all of the games in the series focus around building up a successful zoo and running it although scenarios may have other goals it was developed by blue fang games carnival games august 27 2007 8 million shipped carnival games is a video game franchise for nintendos wii console the nintendo ds and microsofts kinect it was published by global star software before gss was absorbed into taketwo interactive and what is now 2k play watch dogs may 27 2014 8 million shipped watch dogs is an open world actionadventure video game developed by ubisoft montreal ninja gaiden december 9 1988 7705 million ninja gaiden is a series of video games by tecmo featuring the dragon ninja ryu hayabusa the series was originally known as ninja ryukenden ninja rykenden lit legend of the ninja dragon sword in japan while the original arcade title and early home installments of the series were usually known as shadow warriors in the pal region everybodys golf july 7 1997 75 million everybodys golf golf minna no golf known as hot shots golf in north america is a series of golf games published by sony for the playstation playstation 2 playstation portable and playstation 3 consoles max payne july 25 2001 75 million max payne is a thirdperson shooter video game series originally developed by the finnish company remedy entertainment produced by 3d realms and published by gathering of developers later versions were published and developed by rockstar games the max payne series has a major cinematic influence the hong kong action movie genre particularly the work of director john woo which features a great deal of slowmotion violence and gunfights almost resembling ballet moto racer august 31 1997 7 million moto racer is a sports game based on motorbikes developed and published by nobilis oddworld september 19 1997 7 million oddworld is a comprehensive fictional universe presented in video game form created by game developers oddworld inhabitants under the direction of lorne lanning project gotham racing november 9 2001 7 million project gotham racing is a franchise of racing video games developed by bizarre creations and is published by microsoft game studios and sega this series is exclusive to the dreamcast xbox and xbox 360 consoles only this series of racing games consists of metropolis street racer project gotham racing project gotham racing 2 project gotham racing 3 and project gotham racing 4 just cause 22 september 2006 7 million just cause is an actionadventure video game series created by avalanche studios the series currently consists of three games just cause just cause 2 and just cause 3 the games are open world and take place in tropical environments unreal may 22 1998 7 million the unreal series is a video game franchise developed by epic megagames now known as epic games and originally published by gt interactive later by infogrames atari and currently by midway games it was powered by the unreal engine which had been in development for over three years before the game was released trine july 3 2009 7 million trine is an actionplatform and puzzle game developed by frozenbyte that takes place in a medieval fantasy setting and allows players to take control of three separate characters who can battle enemies and solve environmental puzzles it has a sequel that was first released in 2011 nancy drew december 23 1998 7 million nancy drew games follow the popular adventure game style of play players must move nancy around in a virtual environment to talk to suspects pick up clues solve puzzles and eventually solve the crime they are usually published by her interactive rugrats june 29 1999 7 million video game series based on the animated series of the same name published by thq eyetoy november 4 2003 67 million the eyetoy is a color digital camera device similar to a webcam for the playstation 2 and playstation portable games on these series require the camera to input gestures in order to achieve certain goals in themselves ace attorney october 11 2001 67 million ace attorney known as gyakuten saiban turnabout trial in japan is an adventure visual novelstyle game series by creator shu takumi it is owned and published by capcom fzero november 21 1990 65 million fzero is a series of futuristic racing video games created by nintendo the first installment was released as a launch title for the super nintendo entertainment system being successful enough to spawn sequels in subsequent consoles mx vs atv march 16 2005 65 million shipped mx vs atv is an offroad racing game franchise developed by rainbow studios and published by nordic games who took control of the franchises publishing rights from thq after the latters bankruptcy tomodachi collection june 18 2009 632 million tomodachi collection is a life simulation video game series developed and published by nintendo originally released in june 2009 for the nintendo ds the games are about players watching over the morethanoften ridiculous lives of their mii characters as they go about and perform daily activities make friendships and start romantic relationships a sequel for the nintendo 3ds called tomodachi life was released in 2013 in japan and 2014 worldwide excitebike november 21 1990 616 million excitebike is a motocross racing video game franchise made by nintendo it is part of the larger excite series which includes other racing games but with different vehicles such as trucks and animalthemed robots lost planet december 21 2006 61 million lost planet is a thirdperson shooter video game series developed and published by capcom mana june 8 1991 6 million the mana series known in japan as seiken densetsu lit holy sword legend is an action roleplaying game series from square enix created by koichi ishii the series began as a handheld side story final fantasy adventure to squares flagship franchise final fantasy though most final fantasy inspired elements were subsequently dropped starting with the second installment secret of mana army men 1998 6 million army men is a series of video games developed by 3do and global star software based around plastic army men alone in the dark 1992 6 million alone in the dark is a series of survival horror video games from infogrames based on the writings of h p lovecraft although later games in the series drew inspiration from other sources including voodoo the wild west and the works of hr giger brothers in arms march 1 2005 6 million brothers in arms is a firstperson shooter video game series created by gearbox software and published by ubisoft originally released in early 2005 the game takes place during world war ii and focuses on team strategy rather than the faster paced run and gun tactics of the medal of honor series carmen sandiego 1985 6 million carmen sandiego was originally conceived in 1983 by exdisney artist gene portwood mark iscaro dane bigham and lauren elliott at brderbund software the concept for the product evolved from a game the carlstons founders of brderbund played as kids using the world almanac and maps to play quiz games the franchise later developed into television series and books championship manager september 1 1992 6 million the championship manager series is a series of british footballmanagement simulation it was one of the most popular video game franchises of all time the championship manager brand and game was conceived by two brothers paul and oliver collyer the series was split in two in 2005 as the collyers decided that their vision of the game was at odds with that of publisher eidos interactive so they need to leave to continue making a game they could be proud of the brothers lost their battle to keep the championship manager name however and so their series was rebranded as football manager while eidos continued to develop the game their own way under the championship manager moniker hatsune miku project diva july 2 2009 6million hatsune miku project diva is a series of rhythm games created by sega based on the vocaloid character hatsune miku nba jam 1993 6 million nba jam is a series of basketballbased video games created by midway and later electronic arts romance of the three kingdoms 10 december 1985 6 million romance of the three kingdoms sangokushi is a turnbased computerized wargame series by koei that originated from japan the games cover events of the romance of the three kingdoms and the chronicles of the three kingdoms in china during the 2nd and 3rd centuries test drive 1987 6 million test drive is the name of a racing game franchise originally published by accolade which was later bought by infogrames the test drive games are now published by atari the name which infogrames renamed itself in 2003 turok february 28 1997 6 million turok is a firstperson shooter video game series set in a primitive world inhabited by dinosaurs and other creatures published by acclaim entertainment warhammer 40000 august 2003 6 million warhammer 40000 is a series of video games based on the games workshop tabletop game warhammer 40000 since being taken over by thq in 2001 games in the franchise have included realtime strategy dawn of war its expansions and sequel for windows pcs squad command a turnbased tactics game for handheld systems turnbased strategy game glory in death for the nokia ngage and first person shooter fire warrior for windows and playstation 2 conflict september 30 2002 6 million shipped conflict is a series of tactical thirdperson shooter developed by pivotal games and published by sci major league baseball 2k march 1 2004 55 million major league baseball 2k is a series of major league baseball video games developed by visual concepts and kush games and published by 2k sports visual concepts called the series world series baseball in years prior to 2004 for the dreamcast with pedro martnez as the cover athlete virtua fighter december 1993 over 54million virtua fighter is a 3d fighting game series created by yu suzuki and developed and published by sega chrono march 11 1995 54 million the chrono series is a video game franchise formerly developed by square and is currently owned by square enix it began in 1995 with the time travel roleplaying video game chrono trigger which spawned two continuations the visual novel radical dreamers and the roleplaying game chrono cross anno september 24 1998 5 million anno is a series of games with both real time strategy and city building elements developed by germanybased sunflowers interactive entertainment software company asterix 1983 5 million based on the adventures of asterix french astrix a series of french comic books by ren goscinny stories and albert uderzo illustrations the video game franchise has been handled by infogrames since 1993 baldurs gate november 30 1998 5 million baldurs gate is a series of roleplaying video games that take place on faern the main continent from dungeons dragonss forgotten realms campaign setting set in the years following the cataclysmic time of troubles originally developed by bioware chessmaster 1986 5 million chessmaster is a chess playing video game series by ubisoft initially developed by the software toolworks it includes numerous tutorials by international master joshua waitzkin for players of all skill levels stronghold october 21 2001 5 million stronghold is a historic realtime strategy rts game series developed by firefly studios starting from 2001 the game focuses primarily on conquest and expansion through military pursuits but also provides space for economic strategy and development tecmo bowl december 1987 5 million tecmo bowl is an arcade video game series of american football released by tecmo inc toca touring car november 1997 5 million toca is a racing video game series developed and published by codemasters initially focusing specifically on touring car racing but more recently expanding to cover a wide variety of motorsport twisted metal november 5 1995 5 million in north america twisted metal is a vehicular combat series made for the playstation playstation 2 playstation 3 and psp the series is published by sony and developed by the game studio incognito entertainment vrally july 1998 5 million vrally is a racing game franchise originally developed by eden studios and published by infogrames and later by electronic arts mafia august 28 2002 5 million shipped mafia is a thirdperson shooter series made for windows playstation 2 playstation 3 playstation 4 xbox xbox 360 and xbox one that is set in the 1930s through 1960s and focuses on fictional american mafia families of that era the series is currently published by 2k games and developed by 2k czech previously known as illusion softworks and currently developed by hangar 13 bubble bobble august 1986 5 million shipped bubble bobble is a comical action platformer made for arcade famicom disk system the game starring the twin bubble dragons bub and bob tasks players with travelling through one hundred stages blowing and bursting bubbles jumping on and off blown bubbles to navigate level obstacles dodging and eliminating enemies and collecting a variety of items including some that carry powerups and significant bonuses list of longestrunning video game franchises list of bestselling video games list of highestgrossing arcade games list of video game franchises list of the highestgrossing media franchises list of the highestgrossing video game franchises footnotes vtebestselling video game hardware and softwaregeneral video games player count mobile player count video game franchises highestgrossing longestrunning japanese rpgs console hardware by region arcade games bestselling video gamesby platformmicrosoft xbox xbox 360 xbox one nintendo nintendo entertainment system super nintendo entertainment system nintendo 64 gamecube wii wii u nintendo switch game boy and game boy color game boy advance nintendo ds and dsi nintendo 3ds and new 3ds sony playstation playstation 2 playstation 3 playstation 4 other atari 2600 pc sega genesismega drive vtemedia franchisesmedia series animated series anime series book series comic book series manga series film series media mix radio program television show web series video game franchise media lists multimedia franchises animated series anime directtovideo internet television comic book series manga film series characterbased television shows most watched web video game franchises longestrunning highestgrossing lists media franchises film franchises animated anime video game franchises bestselling lists book series comic book series manga series manga magazines soundtrack albums video game franchises 