10 Best-Selling Video Games Of All Time

The world of video games is especially unique when it comes to determining sales figures across the most popular games ever released. For starters, there is no singular source of truth that you may find for box office figures in the television or film industry, and there's infamously great debate over certain titles.

For the sake of this collection of best-selling games, we're going to keep things simple by acknowledging that, while Tetris is a massively popular game and has sold over 500M+ units across every version released over the years, this list will be limited to individual titles, not aggregated numbers.

Further, we have excluded the massively popular Nintendo releases Wii Sports and Mario Kart 8, not because we don't love them, but because it's impossible to get reliable figures on how many units these games sold vs. who acquired them as part of a hardware bundle from Nintendo's Wii and Switch console launches.

With those caveats, sales figures here are based on the latest publicly available totals reported by the games’ publishers or developers, including official investor reports and sales databases, supplemented by reputable reporting where companies disclosed figures through the press.

10 Stardew Valley — 50M

Developed by Concerned Ape; Released 2016

It's hard to believe just how massive Stardew Valley has become given its humble beginnings from solo developer Eric Barone, AKA ConcernedApe, surpassing 50M copies sold and counting. With the new announcement of an old-school physical edition release for the Switch 2 that actually includes a game manual and disc, these numbers are likely to soar even higher in the coming months.

Released a decade ago now back in 2016, Stardew Valley is still set to receive new content with the highly anticipated 1.7 update, while ConcernedApe's next major project, Haunted Chocolatier, has players excited to see what else the developer has up his sleeve.

9 Animal Crossing: New Horizons — 50.29M

Developed by Nintendo EPD; Released 2020

Animal Crossing: New Horizons is a ridiculously popular Nintendo title that has surpassed 50M sold in just six years since its release. Arriving at the perfect moment in 2020 right around the time of the pandemic, the relaxing life simulator gave players a colorful island escape where they could build homes, collect items, visit friends, and shape their surroundings however they wanted.

Regularly scheduled events, seasonal updates, and the game's beloved customization options have helped keep players invested ever since, while its approachable gameplay made it appealing even to people who rarely play games. It's one of Nintendo's biggest success stories, which is saying a lot from the company that brought us Super Mario Bros.

8 Human: Fall Flat — 60M

Developed by No Brakes Games; Released 2016

Human: Fall Flat is a physics-based puzzle platformer built around a "clumsy movement" mechanic, with open-ended puzzles, and a seriously chaotic multiplayer experience. Players control floppy, customizable characters as they climb, swing, drag, and stumble through increasingly elaborate levels, often finding several ridiculous ways to reach the same goal.

Likely a surprising entry on this list for many gamers, Human: Fall Flat has become somewhat of a phenomenon due to its extremely fun party-style setup that's great to play with friends. The game is easy to understand and difficult to master, making it approachable for casual players while still rewarding hardcore gamers who want a challenge.

While its 60M+ sales aren't entirely born out of word of mouth, the game owes its success to being one you'll want to tell your friends about after you try it out.

7 The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt — 65M

Developed by CD Projekt Red; Released 2015

The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt is CD Projekt Red's open-world RPG that became an absolute global sensation thanks to its unique world and characters adapted from Andrzej Sapkowski's beloved fantasy novels. Released over a decade ago, the game offers players hundreds of hours of gameplay in its sprawling world, with many players never even finishing the main story due to getting sidetracked with the various side quests, playing Gwent, or just getting lost in exploration.

The game is set to receive yet another huge DLC titled Songs of the Past in the coming months, with the official sequel trilogy kicking off with The Witcher 4 sometime next year or possibly 2028.

Developed by Bethesda Game Studios; Released 2011

The Elder Scrolls 5: Skyrim has kept fans coming back for more for 15 years now, largely because of how long its taken Bethesda to release The Elder Scrolls 6. That said, even with TES6 getting some promising news in recent weeks, players have found plenty of reasons to continue going back for more. With the new Creations system, which incorporates the former Creation Club and mod menus, community creators have a streamlined way to release new content for Skyrim players to enjoy.

The modding community in particular has kept players engaged over all these years, not to mention regular updates and quality-of-life improvements. Skyrim has also been re-released several times through versions such as the Special Edition and Anniversary Edition, giving longtime fans plenty of opportunities to return to the game across multiple generations and platforms.

5 Terraria — 70M

Developed by Re-Logic; Released 2011

Terraria has become one of the best-selling games of all time thanks to its unusually potent mix of exploration, crafting, combat, and nearly endless replayability factor. The 2D sandbox adventure gives players enormous freedom to build elaborate bases, hunt for rare gear, battle bosses, or simply explore procedurally generated worlds to their hearts content.

It appeals to both casual players and dedicated fans, while multiplayer adds yet another layer of unique gameplay that also helped the game spread via word of mouth. Just as importantly, developer Re-Logic has continued supporting Terraria with substantial free updates for well over a decade, steadily adding new content and giving players plenty of reasons to keep coming back.

4 PUBG: Battlegrounds — 75M+

Developed by PUBG Studios; Released 2017

PUBG: Battlegrounds became one of the best-selling games of all time by helping turn the battle royale genre into a global phenomenon. Its tense 100-player matches, sprawling maps, and high-stakes last-person-standing gameplay created a formula that was easy to understand, but also endlessly unpredictable.

Every match unfolds differently depending on where players land, what gear they find, and how the shrinking play zone forces encounters. Strong word of mouth, streaming, and esports exposure helped PUBG explode in popularity, while releases across PC and consoles expanded its audience even further. Its later transition to free-to-play also helped keep the player base active.

3 Red Dead Redemption 2 — 87M+

Developed by Rockstar Games; Released 2018

One of the best open-world Western games ever made, Rockstar Games' Red Dead Redemption 2 serves as a prequel to the original RDR, but also improved upon the original experience in every way imaginable. Its enormous open world is packed with detail, memorable characters, countless seemingly random encounters, and an emotional story featuring the legendary Arthur Morgan and the decline of the Van der Linde gang.

Players can hunt, explore, gamble, complete side missions, or simply wander through its remarkable frontier-based world. The game's incredible attention to detail have catapulted it to one of Rockstar's biggest successes.

2 Grand Theft Auto V — 230M+

Developed by Rockstar Games; Released 2013

Probably the only Rockstar title that will ever outsell Grand Theft Auto 5 is the upcoming sequel, GTA 6, which has already broken records with its pre-order release earlier this year. GTA 5's sales are absolutely jaw-dropping considering the game is over a decade old, but it's not all that surprising given the game's massive open world and extreme replayability.

GTA Online has also kept the community incredibly engaged, with regular weekly and monthly updates and events and troves of additional content. Rockstar has recently reported over 230+ million copies sold, while parent company Take-Two continues to list GTA 5 and GTA Online among its biggest revenue drivers, even more than a decade after the game first launched.

1 Minecraft — 400M+

Developed by Mojang Studios; Released 2011

It won't come as a huge surprise that Minecraft is at the top of the best-selling games of all time, considering the game has almost universal appeal across a wide range of players. It allows players to be creative with an extremely simple premise, and is available across nearly every major gaming platform.

Minecraft is a prime example of how a game's success is unsurprisingly connected to its widespread appeal, but also to its replay value and depth of gameplay. Together, those qualities have helped it transcend generations of players and cement its place as the best-selling game of all time.