Highest Grossing Game All Time

You probably have no inkling which games are the highest grossing video games of all time, as the well-nigh commonly-used method of calculating success in the gaming world remains the number of copies sold. This is slightly surprising, as information technology'due south a somewhat archaic method in the age of expansions, virtual items, and other forms of DLC. The truest mensurate of a game's success should really exist the gross revenue that it generates. After all, if a game sells i meg copies at $70 each plus pulls in another $20 one thousand thousand in DLC sales, and some other game sells ii million copies at $20 each and has no DLC, the game that sold less copies actually made more than than double the money.

Then in this commodity, nosotros're going to check out the top grossing video games of all time, cutting through the sales figures to get correct to the eye of the thing: how much money each game made. We're going to use directly revenue figures, as opposed to figures adapted for inflation (which are less reliable), which results in a slightly reshuffled listing, though 11 of the top 12 games make the list using either method. The only exception is League of Legends, which holds down the #12 spot in acquirement, though Donkey Kong ranks college using adapted revenue.

The gaming industry has ballooned into a $100 billion industry, and people are spending more time playing games than ever. The daily time spent gaming among U.Southward citizens stood at 23.ii minutes in 2013, up from 17.8 minutes just five years earlier. That figure is expected to ascension to 28.3 by 2018 according to information compiled past Statista. If those figures seem low, call up that they include ALL citizens, not just gamers. That is eating into Americans' TV-watching time, which brutal past 19 minutes per 24-hour interval between 2014 and 2016 co-ordinate to Neilsen. There was an even steeper autumn among Americans 34 and nether, as they increasingly turn to Netflix, Inc. (NASDAQ:NFLX) and other streaming services, YouTube, and gaming for their amusement needs.

Information technology's no wonder that the gaming industry has some notable bulls in the hedge fund industry, one of which is Philippe Laffont, the head of $8 billion tech-focused hedge fund Coatue Direction. Coatue has big positions in Activision Blizzard, Inc. (NASDAQ:ATVI) and Electronic Arts Inc (NASDAQ:EA), both of which were pitched past Laffont at the 2015 Robin Hood Investors Conference. EA has gained 27% over the last year, while Activision Blizzard has risen past ix%. Coatue is too invested in other gaming-related stocks like NVIDIA Corporation (NASDAQ:NVDA) and Intel Corporation (NASDAQ:INTC).

At present so, on to the list of the highest grossing video games of all time, beginning on the adjacent folio, with figures courtesy of Video Game Sales Wiki. Well-nigh figures have been updated through the finish of 2015. And if you're at all interested in the sale of virtual items, be sure to bank check out the 11 Most Expensive Virtual Items in Video Games after reading this list, which reveals some absolutely shocking prices that were paid for virtual items (in the millions of dollars in one case).

#12 League of Legends

Programmer: Riot Games

Released: 2009

Revenue: $3.59 billion

Riot Games' iconic MOBA, and one of the leading e-sports games in the world, comes in at #12. Not bad for a game that primarily sells graphic symbol skins (equally opposed to items that could give players an advantage in the game). League of Legends only continues to abound in popularity, with its actor count reaching 100 million active monthly players as of the middle of final year; a whole world to toy with.

#11 Fantasy Westward Journey

Developer: NetEase Inc. (ADR) (NASDAQ:NTES)

Released: 2001

Revenue: $3.69 billion

The first of several strange games on our list of the highest grossing video games of all time. that volition likely exist obscure to many Western gamers, Fantasy West Journey is a Chinese MMORPG based on the archetype Chinese novel Journey to the Westward, which several other games and series have been based on to some extent, including Dragon Ball and the PlayStation game Saiyuki: Journeying West. Fantasy Westward Journeying had over 310 million registered accounts as of 2015. A mobile version based on the game was likewise released in 2015.

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#10 Space Invaders

Programmer: Taito (now a subsidiary of Square Enix)

Released: 1978

Revenue: $iii.85 billion

One of the most popular arcade games of all time, Infinite Invaders earned an incredible $three.85 billion between 1978 and 1982, primarily 100 yen at a time. In fact the game's popularity led to a persistent claim that it caused a shortage of 100-yen coins in Japan, forcing the country to triple production of the coin, which appears to actually be a myth, despite beingness presented equally fact in several major history of video game books. Regardless, information technology was a phenomenal success, and ranks as the acme grossing game of all time when adjusting for inflation. All the same, Taito suffered a decline in the 1990's alongside the global arcade business. Information technology became a wholly endemic subsidiary of Square Enix in 2006.

12 Highest Grossing Video Games Of All Time

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#9 Puzzle & Dragons

Developer: GungHo Online Entertainment

Released: 2012

Acquirement: $three.85 billion

Puzzle & Dragons is the only game on this list of highest grossing video games of all time, which was released this decade, which is somewhat surprising given the growth of the manufacture, though that growth likewise comes with ever more than gaming options. Achieving well-nigh of its success in Japan, the mobile puzzle game was the outset to hitting $ane billion in revenue and has been downloaded over fifty 1000000 times.

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#viii Dungeon Fighter Online

Programmer: Neople

Released: 2005

Revenue: $4.37 billion

Dungeon Fighter Online had a brief run in North America (information technology was likewise re-released globally in 2015) but achieved the majority of its success in South Korea and Nihon. The online 2D beat-em-up game was adult on a pocket-size budget and wasn't expected to achieve much success, but ended up spawning a generation of side-scrolling online action games. An anime and manga have also been adapted from the game.

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#vii Wii Fit

Programmer: Nintendo Co., Ltd (ADR) (OTCMKTS:NTDOY)

Released: 2007

Revenue: $4.43 billion

Wii Fit became somewhat of a cultural miracle when information technology was released, driving the narrative that gaming could too proceed you agile and healthy. The game even began to see utilise in non-traditional settings, such every bit health clubs. The game featured a multitude of different challenges that had to be physically acted out, including yoga and strength challenges. Though the game's health benefits were debated by some, partly due to the curt bursts of activeness punctuated by forced menu breaks, its success is undeniable. It's no wonder because the fact that information technology's one of the highest grossing video games of all time.

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#six Pac-Man

Developer: Capcom

Released: 1980

Revenue: $four.47 billion

Probably the most iconic and beloved arcade game ever, Pac-Man has had many iterations over the years, just arguably none accept been able to improve upon the sheer, simplistic brilliance of the original game. There were an estimated xxx million people that played Pac-Man in the U.South lonely in 1982, at the height of its popularity. Pac-Man was featured prominently in Adam Sandler'south 2015 moving-picture show Pixels, along with Infinite Invaders and several other classic arcade games. Pac-Man's creator Toru Iwatani was a character in the film (played by Denis Akiyama), while Iwatani himself fabricated a cameo advent.

#5 Lineage

Developer: NCSoft

Released: 1998

Revenue: $four.75 billion

The oldest non-arcade game on the listing, the MMORPG Lineage took South Korea by tempest after its release in 1998 and continues to survive to this 24-hour interval, despite a sequel having been released in 2003 (a second sequel, Lineage Eternal, is stuck in development hell). Nor has the game slowed down over the by decade, continuing to pull in between $250 million and $350 million annually, despite the game'due south N American servers existence shut down dorsum in 2011. It proudly takes 5th identify on this listing of highest grossing video games of all time!

#4 Wii Sports

Developer: Nintendo Co., Ltd (ADR) (OTCMKTS:NTDOY)

Released: 2006

Acquirement: $five.19 billion

The second of Nintendo'due south two Wii games that enjoyed immense popularity, Wii Sports is credited with earning $v.xix billion. The motion-command game is amid the highest grossing video games of all time and features v sports which offer players a diversity of different experiences: golf, bowling, tennis, boxing, and baseball. In addition to its fourth-identify finish in revenue, the game is credited as the third-best selling of all time, behind only Tetris and Minecraft (neither of which made this listing), having sold 82.79 1000000 copies through the terminate of final September.

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#iii Street Fighter II

Programmer: Capcom

Released: 1991

Revenue: $6.fifteen billion

The near successful arcade game of all time (but one that also had a much stronger presence on dwelling consoles), Street Fighter Ii has generated over $6 billion in revenue since 1991 and remains one of the most popular competitive fighting games to this day. It was involved in ane of the fiercest gaming rivalries of all time in the 1990's, as information technology competed with Mortal Kombat for the favor of arcade and panel fighting game fans. Both series released movies in the mid-90's at the pinnacle of their rivalry, being 2 of the showtime video game series to practise and then.

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#2 Crossfire

Programmer: Smilegate

Released: 2007

Acquirement: $seven.xiii billion

Crossfire is a free tactical shooter that has achieved immense popularity in Republic of korea and China. The top grossing game of 2014, when information technology pulled in $i.3 billion in revenue, Crossfire is amidst the highest grossing video games of all fourth dimension because makes money through the sale of virtual items, buffs, and other bonuses. The game's popularity has led to a deal to produce a major movement motion picture based on it, which will involve Neil Moritz of Fast & Furious fame. The movie has yet to see release, and is non to be confused with some other, rather uninspiring looking CROSSFIRE movie that was released in 2015, which does non appear to have any connection to the game.

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#1 World of Warcraft

Developer: Activision Blizzard, Inc. (NASDAQ:ATVI)

Released: 2004

Revenue: $9.23 billion

At present 13 years since its release, World of Warcraft continues to remain 1 of the most popular MMORPG's in the world, with near 10 meg subscribers. While that's downwards slightly from the game's superlative of most 12 million subscribers in 2011, the game is yet showing incredible longevity and continues to rake in boatloads of money for Activision Blizzard. Blizzard had been working on a new MMO for years, codenamed Titan, simply eventually scrapped the projection, perchance partly out of fear that it would cannibalize WoW subs, which may not have been expected to still be every bit strong equally they were when Titan was first started. Instead, some assets from Titan were reworked into Blizzard's popular first-person shooter Overwatch.

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There you have information technology, the 12 highest grossing video games of all fourth dimension. There were likely a few shockers on the list, and perhaps some games yous're surprised didn't make it, such as Grand Theft Automobile 5, which has sold over 65 meg copies, yet simply checked in at $2.48 billion through the end of 2015. Volition any game knock Earth of Warcraft from its perch any fourth dimension soon? Permit us know in the comments.

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