What are the Biggest selling computer games?

[vlc]

I was wondering if anyones bothered to compile a ranking list for home game sales, eg the boxed games people buy in shops like 'pc world', 'electronic boutique' an 'walmart' etc, from say since the early 1980s when home computer games took off, or say the mid 1970s when home video games appeared.

now stat wise, all i've heard are 2 things, ie -

on a tv promo it said that the 'final fantasy' game series is the worlds best selling game.
+
on a website i read that 'tomb raider' games have sold > 30,000,000 copies...
hence, so where does that rank it, an how many has the former game sold for them to say that?

then of course, one can assume 'pacman' was widely bought in the past, as was 'elite' - but, the home game market was still smaller then, than now.

ps- i'm also talking about game series counting as 1 game, since sequels are just extensions of the first game, eg- doom 3 is just a slicker variation on the original concept, as just like 'james bond' films are moreover bigger-budget versions of a british secret agent saving the world all over again, roughly speaking.

[alextgreen]

I wouldn't count a series as one game - there are far too many variations - look at some of the tat that has appeared under the Final Fantasy franchise.

[parrot of doom]

Half Life?

[simonrockman]

I understood that it was The Sims, helped by appealing to both genders.

Simon

[Stin Hambo]

Tetris and Fligh Simulator series I think.

[rsvmilly]

I don't know about 'sales ever' but if you want an indication, Gameplay list their games by sales.

[judas]

parrot of doom said:

Half Life?

On the PC, possibly - though I suspect sales of 'The Sims' would be much higher.

Compared to consoles, PC games sales are miniscule.

[Plotloss]

The Sims is the biggest selling franchise overall...

[kirkythepunk]

I'm sure it's the sims they haven't left the charts for years but Half-life 1 has to be the biggest ground breaker pure class

[bruciebabie]

San Andreas

[lightningghost]

With all the football fans in the UK and the US, the Championship Manager series and now the Football Manager series must be up there somewhere.

[ninjadave]

www.gamesindustry.biz/charts.php

[bruciebabie]

bruciebabie said:

San Andreas

UK gaming sales statistics agency Chart-Track has confirmed that in its first weekend on release GTA: San Andreas broke all previous records to shift an obscene 677,000 (estimated) copies in Britain alone. The European total is reckoned to be in the region of 1.5 million, with a similar quantity expected from the North American debut too.
Chart-Track's panel of 6,500 UK retailers reported sales of 575,000 units, and given that this cross-section represent some 85% of all retailers, the 677,000 mark can't be far wrong. This obscene figure destroys the previous UK high of 250,000 units, and even this statistic belongs to the last GTA release: Vice City. Blimey.

If global sales do - as expected - reach the same stellar highs already filtering through, then we could be looking at 3 million copies sold in the opening weekend, a record by such a margin that apparently only ten PS2 games have sold more in their entire life-spans. Once again it looks like GTA is set for world domination, this time on an unparalleled scale. Time to buy shares in Take 2, methinks...

[forever_driving]

The best selling game of all time was Super Mario Bros. on the NES.

Either got 40 or 60 million sales worldwide!

[vlc]

judas said:

Compared to consoles, PC games sales are miniscule.

- i dont think that can be true, for i came across an online survey on friday, an it said 60% of players prefer buying games for pc than a gamestation!

[d-man]

vlc said:

judas said: Compared to consoles, PC games sales are miniscule. - i dont think that can be true, for i came across an online survey on friday, an it said 60% of players prefer buying games for pc than a gamestation!

That probably says more about the people that were filling in that survey than about which platform is more popular

Console sales dwarf PC game sales in general.

[RedYellowGreen]

I once read the bigest selling game ever was Goldeneye on the N64 then again I also read it was gran turismo on the PSX. Who knows? Good question.

[FunkyNige]

Wikipedia says -

# Super Mario Bros. 3 (NES - 17.28 Million)
# Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas (PS2 - 12 Million)
# Super Mario Land 2 (Game Boy - 11.09 Million)
# Gran Turismo 3: A-Spec (PS2 - 11 million)

Biggest PC ones are

# The Sims (10 million)
# Half-Life (8 million)
# Starcraft (8 million)
# Age of Empires II (8 million)
# Myst (7 million)

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_

[r988]

Stin Hambo said:

Tetris and Fligh Simulator series I think.

Flight simulators are too much of a niche product to be anywhere near the top, even if you included the CFS series as well.

[Neil_H]

FunkyNige said:

Wikipedia says - # Super Mario Bros. 3 (NES - 17.28 Million) # Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas (PS2 - 12 Million) # Super Mario Land 2 (Game Boy - 11.09 Million) # Gran Turismo 3: A-Spec (PS2 - 11 million) Biggest PC ones are # The Sims (10 million) # Half-Life (8 million) # Starcraft (8 million) # Age of Empires II (8 million) # Myst (7 million) http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_

I'm surprised by that, I would have put money on the top seller being a cross-platform game, which would give it a larger market.