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), 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.
Successful as fertilizer doesn’t count.
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.
Duke Nukem Forever! Oh wait, that was never released…
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.)
I knew somebody would understand.
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.
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?
Considering it’s huge success as both an arcade and console game, Street Fighter II should be in the discussion.
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.
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.
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%
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.
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.
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:
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.
SMB1 and 2 were also on the Super Mario All-Stars SNES cartridge, which sold pretty well (10 million copies?)
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.
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.
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.
I think that is what a lot of people tried to get other Sims to do. 