Just curious. Let’s define “success” as either money made, or # of copies sold.
Let’s not define “success” as “I really liked that game.”
My guess: World of Warcraft. That baby has to be a cash cow.
Just curious. Let’s define “success” as either money made, or # of copies sold.
Let’s not define “success” as “I really liked that game.”
My guess: World of Warcraft. That baby has to be a cash cow.
The Sims has to be up there also, with all the expansion packs and whatnot.
I’m guessing it’s either between WOW, Starcraft and the Sims (and all it’s bastard offspring).
Pac-Man or Space Invaders.
There are a lot of potential number ones Tetris, The Sims, Pokemon, Warcraft . But I’d have to say Mario and his numerous incarnations is the biggest financially and in proliferation.
Top selling console games
Top Selling PC Games
The Sims (50 million, 70 million including expansions)
Lineage 2 (17 million players)
The Sims 2 (13 million, 100 million including expansions)
The Sims 2: Pets [expansion pack] (5.6 million)
The Sims 2: Seasons [expansion pack] (1 million)
World of Warcraft (10 million subscribers)
World of Warcraft: The Burning Crusade [expansion pack] (3.5 million)
With thanks to Wikipedia.
I seem to recall reading that, for one year (1981?), Americans spent more on Pac-Man than on movies, books, and pay television combined. But, I can’t find the reference now, so I could very well be incorrect.
What do arcade game revenues count as? I mean, if there are still some Pac-Man cabinets up and running, some of them could be going on 30 years old. That’s a nice head start.
I terms of the number of spin-offs, sequels and off-shoots, Donkey Kong would have to be up there, what with all the Mario and Mario-universe games that have since been released.
I was going to come in here and say either Pokemon or WoW, but I see wikipedia has beat me to it.
Curse you Wikipedia, foiled again! shakes fist
There are still Pac Man games in arcades. I think it wins, hands down.
Do we include revenues from sales of Pac-Man Fever by Buckner & Garcia?
Wow, Diablo 2 isn’t anywhere on the list? Nor Halo?
Who are all these people buying Nintendogs? If not a one Penny Arcade comic on the game, I would have no idea what that was. Yet I can name at least 10 people who own Final Fantasy VII, and that is no-where to be found.
Tetris has been converted to run in everything. Didn’t make money, but it’s everywhere from cell phones to linux install disks (plays while waiting for compiling to be done) to arcade consoles.
In terms of money made from a video game, how can anything compete with World of Warcraft and its expansion? I can see MAYBE an argument for Pacman and Ms Pacman coming close after adjusting for inflation, but there’s no friggin way that I’m gonna accept that Lineage 2 has been more successful than WoW.
Yeah… it’s weird. I only became aware of Nintendogs because Famitsu gave it a perfect score. Almost everyone I know has a DS (including some quintessential casual gamers whose collections mostly include casino minigame compilations and games with “Training” in the title), but I’ve never seen anyone playing this game.
ETA: I think part of the problem with FF7 is that it’s inexplicably been out of print for years (while FF8, FF9, Chrono Cross, and other PSX Square games can be found anyplace for $15). A lot more people would own FF7 by now if it wasn’t so rare and expensive.
E.T. by Atari
Well, parents all over the Americas, Europe, and Japan bought Nintendogs for their kids. Some adults bought it for themselves (including me, though in my defense it was a used copy). The game is as neutral and accessible as any title can possibly be. Heck, it’s about puppies! It’s a natural bundle title for the DS. Even if the recipient only played it for a few hours on Christmas morning before getting bored, it’s still a sale. FFVII, on the other hand, has a dark tone and a highly involved plot. It’s not exactly parent-friendly. I can’t imagine grandma having bought her grandkids a Playstation 2 and getting them this game to go along with it. (Though if she did, she’d have been the coolest grandma ever.)
Another issue is that, as Autumn Almanac mentioned, the game is out of print. I wouldn’t be surprised to see a Squinix reissue (remastered FFVII/Advent Children/all the other spinoffs in a multimedia bundle), but until that happens, fans will be stuck hunting for used or pirated copies. Of the people I know who have the game, all of them were lucky enough to have picked it up back in the day and not lost, damaged, or otherwise been forced to part with it.
I actually was coming in here to say what sublight said, Donkey Kong was very popular on it’s own, but has also spawned a plethora of related extrememly popular games.