Best-selling games
Lifetime copies, in millions, from the class table of 26 games I previously made.
1. The average sits above the middle
These 26 games are the same list as the earlier data table. Added together, the sales cells come to 2401.94 million copies.
The mean is 92.38 million. The median is 50.15 million, halfway between Animal Crossing: New Horizons (50.29) and The Sims (50.00). The mean is higher because three titles pull it up. Those three are the covers below.
2. Three rows are almost half the copies
Tetris (520), Minecraft (400), and Grand Theft Auto V (230) total 1150 million copies. That is 47.9% of the table. The other 23 games total up to 1251.94 million, or 52.1%.
Top 3, 1150 million. The bar uses 400 pixels for each 1000 million copies.
Other 23 games, 1251.94 million, on the same scale.
| Group | Games | Copies (millions) | Share |
|---|---|---|---|
| Top 3 | 3 | 1150 | 47.9% |
| The other games | 23 | 1251.94 | 52.1% |
| Whole table | 26 | 2401.94 | 100% |
3. The 2010s hold most of the copies
The year in the table is the first release year. Fifteen of the 26 titles come from the 2010s, and those rows hold 1392.13 million copies, about 58% of the table. The 1980s have only two titles, but Tetris makes that decade 578 million copies.
| Decade | Titles | Sales (millions) | What drives the total |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1980s | 2 | 578 | Tetris and Super Mario Bros. |
| 1990s | 2 | 87.44 | Pokémon Red and Blue, and Sonic |
| 2000s | 4 | 214.08 | The Sims, Wii Sports, Wii Fit, Mario Kart Wii |
| 2010s | 15 | 1392.13 | Includes Minecraft and Grand Theft Auto V |
| 2020s | 3 | 130.29 | Animal Crossing, Cyberpunk 2077, Hogwarts Legacy |
Minecraft and Grand Theft Auto V both sit in the 2010s, so that decade's lead still depends on two games.
4. Small teams reach the middle
Terraria, Human: Fall Flat, and Stardew Valley were made by one person or a small studio. Together they sold 178 million copies. Each one sold more copies than Cyberpunk 2077 (40 million). Grand Theft Auto V, at 230 million, sold more than those three combined.
| Title | Sales (millions) | Developer |
|---|---|---|
| Terraria | 70 | Re-Logic |
| Human: Fall Flat | 58 | No Brakes Games |
| Stardew Valley | 50 | ConcernedApe |
| Cyberpunk 2077 | 40 | CD Projekt Red |
| Grand Theft Auto V | 230 | Rockstar North |
A small team can reach the middle of this list! Yet the top of the list is still a different tier.