# What's the most successful video game ever made? **URL:** \ **Category:** The Game Room\ **Created:** [April 14, 2008, 6:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-the-most-successful-video-game-ever-made/445336 "2008-04-14T18:21:04Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![iamthewalrus\_3](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/258eb7/32.png) [@iamthewalrus\_3](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/iamthewalrus_3)\ **Post date:** [April 15, 2008, 9:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-the-most-successful-video-game-ever-made/445336/21 "2008-04-15T21:41:46Z")
Given the numbers for WoW and The Sims, it looks like WoW is on top as “most money”, or will be soon. If we assume that WoW has had linear growth in subscribers since it started over 3 years ago ([Not a bad assumption](http://www.mmogchart.com/2008/01/30/world-of-warcraft-hits-10-million/)), then the average subscriber has been playing for a bit over 18 months. At a minimum monthly fee of $13/mo (in 6-month package), that’s $230 per subscriber, or $2.3 billion. If we assume that every one of the Sims purchases was at new full $50ish retail, then the Sims gets $2.5 billion, but it’s more likely that the average price paid for The Sims was between $30 and $40. ---
**Author:** ![Sublight](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/439d5e/32.png) [@Sublight](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sublight)\ **Post date:** [April 16, 2008, 10:07am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-the-most-successful-video-game-ever-made/445336/22 "2008-04-16T10:07:07Z")
[QUOTE=Harmonious Discord] E.T. by Atari [/QUOTE] Successful as fertilizer doesn’t count. ---
**Author:** ![CatInASuit](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/3be4f8/32.png) [@CatInASuit](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CatInASuit)\ **Post date:** [April 16, 2008, 1:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-the-most-successful-video-game-ever-made/445336/23 "2008-04-16T13:26:16Z")
Well, EA have just announced that “The Sims” has now sold over 100 million copies worldwide making it the top selling video game of all. Let’s not include all the other iterations and expansions packs etc. etc. Sorry WoW still has a way to catch up in terms of sheer numbers. It may have had 10 million unique subscribers, but how many of them are paying a subscription at any one point in time? Is it still all 10 million or have some of those stopped playing. ---
**Author:** ![Khadaji](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/9e8a1a/32.png) [@Khadaji](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Khadaji)\ **Post date:** [April 16, 2008, 2:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-the-most-successful-video-game-ever-made/445336/24 "2008-04-16T14:18:00Z")
Duke Nukem Forever! Oh wait, that was never released… ---
**Author:** ![BlackKnight](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/eb8c5e/32.png) [@BlackKnight](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BlackKnight)\ **Post date:** [April 16, 2008, 2:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-the-most-successful-video-game-ever-made/445336/25 "2008-04-16T14:24:15Z")
The official WoW numbers only include accounts with an active subscription. However, I’ve heard that China has a different payment rate, so you’d need to factor that in to get a precise value. Also, **iamthewalrus(:3=**, you don’t appear to have added in the retail cost of WoW (and the expansion). That’s $30 - 40 or so for each purchase in addition to the money generated monthly. (The game is cheaper now, but I think it debuted around $40.) ---
**Author:** ![Harmonious\_Discord](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/74df32/32.png) [@Harmonious\_Discord](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Harmonious_Discord)\ **Post date:** [April 16, 2008, 3:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-the-most-successful-video-game-ever-made/445336/26 "2008-04-16T15:06:38Z")
[QUOTE=Sublight] Successful as fertilizer doesn’t count. [/QUOTE] I knew somebody would understand. ---
**Author:** ![Martin\_Hyde](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/47e85d/32.png) [@Martin\_Hyde](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Martin_Hyde)\ **Post date:** [April 16, 2008, 3:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-the-most-successful-video-game-ever-made/445336/27 "2008-04-16T15:20:50Z")
[QUOTE=Mosier] 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. [/QUOTE] Lineage 2 has a huge market in Korea, it’s my understanding it is pretty much very unpopular everywhere else. The Korean subscription rate is only $8/month, so it’s possible that WoW’s 10 million subscribers bring more monthly revenue in to Blizzard/Vivendi than Lineage’s 17 million subscribers do. I imagine that in terms of revenue, World of Warcraft is probably number one. It has a higher subscription fee per month (for most of its customer base, Lineage and WoW have identical subscription fees in the U.S., but the majority of Lineage players are in South Korea), and WoW has a higher retail price for the box game and its expansions are more expensive. Games like Pokemon and the Sims probably can’t even compete. If someone has an active World of Warcraft subscription for more than 4 months, then that’s more revenue than you make from selling one retail copy of the game. ---
**Author:** ![xnylder](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/x/bbce88/32.png) [@xnylder](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/xnylder)\ **Post date:** [April 16, 2008, 3:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-the-most-successful-video-game-ever-made/445336/28 "2008-04-16T15:36:12Z")
[QUOTE=Martin Hyde] Games like Pokemon and the Sims probably can’t even compete. If someone has an active World of Warcraft subscription for more than 4 months, then that’s more revenue than you make from selling one retail copy of the game. [/QUOTE] What if we count the Pokemon movies, series, CCG, plushies, and other merchandise as part of the videogame’s profits? The Game Boy cartridges came first and without them, none of the other products would exist. How many millions (billions?) of dollars have been earned because of those games? ---
**Author:** ![VarlosZ](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/v/d78d45/32.png) [@VarlosZ](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/VarlosZ)\ **Post date:** [April 16, 2008, 3:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-the-most-successful-video-game-ever-made/445336/29 "2008-04-16T15:42:20Z")
Considering it’s huge success as both an arcade and console game, _Street Fighter II_ should be in the discussion. ---
**Author:** ![Martin\_Hyde](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/47e85d/32.png) [@Martin\_Hyde](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Martin_Hyde)\ **Post date:** [April 16, 2008, 5:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-the-most-successful-video-game-ever-made/445336/30 "2008-04-16T17:39:07Z")
[QUOTE=xnylder] What if we count the Pokemon movies, series, CCG, plushies, and other merchandise as part of the videogame’s profits? The Game Boy cartridges came first and without them, none of the other products would exist. How many millions (billions?) of dollars have been earned because of those games? [/QUOTE] That’s a different question. “Most profitable video game” should refer to what game has directly raised the most revenue. Other merchandise wouldn’t be part of game-raised revenue, in my opinion. However, these aren’t scientific metrics. Merchandise and other revenue is worth looking at, I’m just not sure that was the bounds of the initial discussion. ---
**Author:** ![CatInASuit](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/3be4f8/32.png) [@CatInASuit](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CatInASuit)\ **Post date:** [April 16, 2008, 5:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-the-most-successful-video-game-ever-made/445336/31 "2008-04-16T17:58:00Z")
Well, in the original discussion, it was either most money made by a video game of the best sellling video game. Now, the Sims runs away with the best selling video game, so the remaining question is, which game has generated the most income. I see no reason why we shouldn’t include merchandise as part of it. ---
**Author:** ![Dangerosa](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/22d042/32.png) [@Dangerosa](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dangerosa)\ **Post date:** [April 16, 2008, 5:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-the-most-successful-video-game-ever-made/445336/32 "2008-04-16T17:59:51Z")
[QUOTE=Captain\_C] 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. [/QUOTE] This always amuses me about these threads. Its like adult console gamers have this complete and total blind spot to the number of eight year olds carrying DSs around everywhere. Or why a 62 year old might buy a Wii to bowl but has no interest at all in Halo. (My father was over the other day - we showed him the Wii, I will NOT be surprised when one shows up at his house. I would be SHOCKED to see a XBox 360 show up at his house). If you are an six to twelve year old girl with a DS (and there are LOTS of them), the probability that you own Nintendogs approaches 100% ---
**Author:** ![Really\_Not\_All\_That\_Bright](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/e8c25b/32.png) [@Really\_Not\_All\_That\_Bright](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Really_Not_All_That_Bright)\ **Post date:** [April 16, 2008, 6:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-the-most-successful-video-game-ever-made/445336/33 "2008-04-16T18:10:23Z")
[QUOTE=CatInASuit] Now, the Sims runs away with the best selling video game, so the remaining question is, which game has generated the most income. [/QUOTE] Well, not necessarily. _The Sims_ isn’t the top selling franchise, and certainly isn’t the top-selling single game. As Wikipedia noted, if you look at franchises then Mario is clearly the winner. I think asking what the best selling single game is makes more sense - and specify that if it wasn’t launched originally in one box, it isn’t a game but a franchise. ---
**Author:** ![Miller](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/miller/32/481_2.png) [@Miller](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Miller)\ **Post date:** [April 16, 2008, 6:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-the-most-successful-video-game-ever-made/445336/34 "2008-04-16T18:11:43Z")
[QUOTE=xnylder] 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. [/QUOTE] Huh. I picked up a copy of FFVII three or four years ago, new, at the local Toys ‘R’ Us. I had no idea it was such a rare, hard-to-find title. ---
**Author:** ![Justin\_Bailey](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/justin_bailey/32/8792_2.png) [@Justin\_Bailey](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Justin_Bailey)\ **Post date:** [April 16, 2008, 6:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-the-most-successful-video-game-ever-made/445336/35 "2008-04-16T18:12:23Z")
WoW is an amateur compared to Mario. Super Mario Bros 3. has sold the most copies of any game not packed in with a console, slightly over 20 million. I’m sure the GBA and Virtual Console re-releases have added considerably to that total since it’s original release. But the undisputed king is Super Mario Bros. As a pack-in to the NES, it has sold over 40 million copies. Then consider the remake on the GBC, another remake on the GBA and the Virtual Console re-release. It is the king, everyone else bows before it. And that The Sims number is for the whole franchise (The Sims and The Sims 2) and all of the expnasions. Not for a single game. Again, the Mario franchise left 100 million in the dust probably close to a decade ago. EDIT: [QUOTE=Miller] Huh. I picked up a copy of FFVII three or four years ago, new, at the local Toys ‘R’ Us. I had no idea it was such a rare, hard-to-find title. [/QUOTE] It’s not. Tons of copies are available at game stores (and on eBay) all over. I’ve never heard it described as “rare” before this thread. ---
**Author:** ![Really\_Not\_All\_That\_Bright](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/e8c25b/32.png) [@Really\_Not\_All\_That\_Bright](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Really_Not_All_That_Bright)\ **Post date:** [April 16, 2008, 6:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-the-most-successful-video-game-ever-made/445336/36 "2008-04-16T18:22:51Z")
SMB1 and 2 were also on the Super Mario All-Stars SNES cartridge, which sold pretty well (10 million copies?) ---
**Author:** ![Autumn\_Almanac](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/d26b3c/32.png) [@Autumn\_Almanac](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Autumn_Almanac)\ **Post date:** [April 16, 2008, 6:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-the-most-successful-video-game-ever-made/445336/37 "2008-04-16T18:57:28Z")
[QUOTE=Justin\_Bailey] Tons of copies are available at game stores (and on eBay) all over. I’ve never heard it described as “rare” before this thread. [/QUOTE] What’s your threshold for rare? I just glanced at Amazon and eBay; the cheapest used copy I saw was around $70, sealed copies are closer to $150, and that’s for the Greatest Hits edition, not even a black label. I’d say demand is outpacing supply. ---
**Author:** ![CatInASuit](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/3be4f8/32.png) [@CatInASuit](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CatInASuit)\ **Post date:** [April 16, 2008, 7:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-the-most-successful-video-game-ever-made/445336/38 "2008-04-16T19:56:19Z")
[QUOTE=Justin\_Bailey] WoW is an amateur compared to Mario. Super Mario Bros 3. has sold the most copies of any game not packed in with a console, slightly over 20 million. I’m sure the GBA and Virtual Console re-releases have added considerably to that total since it’s original release. But the undisputed king is Super Mario Bros. As a pack-in to the NES, it has sold over 40 million copies. Then consider the remake on the GBC, another remake on the GBA and the Virtual Console re-release. It is the king, everyone else bows before it. And that The Sims number is for the whole franchise (The Sims and The Sims 2) and all of the expnasions. Not for a single game. Again, the Mario franchise left 100 million in the dust probably close to a decade ago. [/QUOTE] Well the top 5 franchises are Mario (200 million) Pokémon (165 million) The Sims (100 million) Final Fantasy (80 million) Grand Theft Auto (70 million) In terms if the individual games, the Sims is approximately 50 million on its own (another 50 millions combined for expansions + Sims 2 etc), followed by Super Mario Bros packaged at 40 million. Both still well ahead of most other games. ---
**Author:** ![Really\_Not\_All\_That\_Bright](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/e8c25b/32.png) [@Really\_Not\_All\_That\_Bright](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Really_Not_All_That_Bright)\ **Post date:** [April 16, 2008, 7:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-the-most-successful-video-game-ever-made/445336/39 "2008-04-16T19:58:23Z")
How the hell did the _Sims_ sell 155 million copies, anyway? They’re not even games. They’re just semi-interactive simulations of incredibly boring households. F\*\*k the Sims. ---
**Author:** ![CatInASuit](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/3be4f8/32.png) [@CatInASuit](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CatInASuit)\ **Post date:** [April 16, 2008, 8:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-the-most-successful-video-game-ever-made/445336/40 "2008-04-16T20:01:43Z")
[QUOTE=Really Not All That Bright] F\*\*k the Sims. [/QUOTE] I think that is what a lot of people tried to get other Sims to do. 😛 [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-the-most-successful-video-game-ever-made/445336.md?page=1) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-the-most-successful-video-game-ever-made/445336.md?page=3)