Is there a perfect recipe to bring a great game to the market and sell it in record numbers? Judging by the best-selling games in history, no. Here we will talk about the first-person shooters Battlefield and Call of Duty, and the world-constructor Minecraft, and the simulator of the murder of prostitutes GTA V.

Now for the riddle: which was the best-selling game in history? I'm sure most of you can handle it easily. But the answer is still at the end of the article.

World of warcraft

The game World of Warcraft was released in 2004, by 2007 the number of users reached 8 million, and in 2010 it exceeded 13 million. It is the most popular MMORPG in the world in terms of the number of subscribers, as evidenced by an entry in the Guinness Book of Records. In the entire history of the game, more than 100 million accounts have been registered, and the number of players is between 7 and 10 million people.

October 2016 saw the release of the fifteenth game in the series, Battlefield 1, based on the First World War. Time will tell if it makes the top-selling list in the future.

Call of duty

The success of Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2 became evident in the first 24 hours after its release, on November 10, 2009. During the day, the developers set a record and sold 4.7 million copies of the game, overtaking the Grand Theft auto IV. Seven years have passed since that moment, but the game still evokes the warmest feelings for many.

On the other hand, the Russian State Duma deputies outraged the game. In early 2010, as part of the spring session of the meeting, they began to discuss Call of Duty, proposing to equate games with extremist materials. It was about scenes of violence, namely about the murder of unarmed people at the airport in a game. The "No Russian" level has been removed in the Russian version.

In November 2010, Call of Duty: Black Ops broke the record of its predecessor - it sold 5 million copies per day. The total sales of the game exceeded 26 million copies in 2012.

On November 12, 2011, Activision announced that the Call of Duty game set a world sales record for the third year in a row. In just a day, 6.5 million copies were bought in the United States and England. Until 2013, 28.5 million copies were sold.

This game is dedicated to the end of the Third World War and is a sequel to Modern Warfare 2. Personally, I think this game is the best in the series. But this is my subjective opinion, tied, perhaps, including to the nostalgic mood towards her. It is still nice to sometimes turn on the battle mode with bots for survival.

Pokémon Red, Blue, Green and Pokémon Gold and Silver

In 1996, Nintendo released Pokémon Red, Blue and Green on the Game Boy in Japan. These were the first games in the Pokémon series on the console. The three versions have sold 23.64 million copies. As we can see, the popularity of Pokemon even then affected the sales of video games, so the success of Pokemon Go is quite logical.

Let's take a look at what Pokemon Red looked like on the Game Boy in 1996. With such graphical capabilities, it was then necessary to make excellent gameplay. Or is the main thing - to choose the right characters, what do you think?

Two new versions of Pokémon Gold and Silver were released in 1999 for the Game Boy and Game Boy Color. They failed to achieve the success of their predecessors, but 23 million copies were sold, making these games one of the best-selling video games in history.

To 151 types of Pokémon from previous versions, another 100 were added, for a total of 251 characters. To collect all the Pokémon, it was not enough to complete one game - for example, Gold. Users needed to exchange Pokémon with players of the Silver version, as well as old games.

Some more ear balm in the form of old 8-bit music in Pokemon Silver gameplay.

Nintendogs

Long before the goat simulator, but after the Tamagotchi, Nintendo decided to make a dog simulator for the DS console. From 2005 to 2011, the Nintendogs game sold 23.64 million copies.

In the game, you need to take care of the dog, control is carried out using a touchscreen and a microphone. You can communicate with other users wirelessly between consoles.

Diablo iii

The famous RPG Diablo III was released in 2012. The game set the record for the daily sale of games for personal computers - 3.5 million per day. In the first week, sales reached 6.3 million copies, and a total of 30 million copies were sold. Perhaps if Diablo III was released on multiple platforms at once, it would break Call of Duty records.

Diablo III was greeted warmly, but fans who played in previous versions decided that the atmosphere was not right. The colors are too bright, not enough gothic and so on. In this regard, they put forward a petition to Blizzard demanding a change in the color scheme. The company refused.

Below is a trailer for Diablo III: Reaper of Souls.

Super mario

Any rankings like this should have Super Mario. If we were talking about gaming franchises, this character would be in first place. Super Mario Bros. for the Nintendo Entertainment System (in Russia read “for Dendy”) 40.24 million copies were sold.

The game was filmed for an anime, a strange 1993 feature film and, of course, porn, in which Ron Jeremy took part. Nintendo had to buy the rights to two porn films in order to bury them forever. But Youtube remembers at least such a small cut without, in fact, the main action.

The best-selling games in history include Mario Kart Wii, New Super Mario Bros., New Super Mario Bros. Wii. Each of these games has sold at least 23 million copies. But the total sales of all the games in the franchise are 528 million units.

Grand theft auto v

The GTA games owe much of their popularity to being able to move freely around the world and do whatever they want. If you want - crush people, if you want - you perform tasks, if you want - you kill prostitutes. Due to the latter, the game of Grand Theft Auto V was even banned in Australia.

The game was released in September 2013 on the seventh generation consoles, in 2014 on the eighth generation consoles and in 2015 on personal computers.

The PC version with 60 FPS and Full HD is amazing.

The advertising campaign for the game went off with a bang and with a scandal. On the poster below, you can easily recognize Lindsay Lohan, moreover, the game has a mission where you need to save a character with a biography similar to Lohan's story from the paparazzi. Here are just not the famous actress on the covers of the game, but the model Shelby Welinder. The actress sued Rockstar and lost.

In total, 65 million copies of the game have been sold.

The predecessor of GTA V, the fourth installment of Grand Theft Auto, released in 2008, has sold 25 million copies. She was never able to overtake the 2004 Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas with 27.5 million sales. You can remember your childhood with San Andreas today on Android, only you will have to pay more than five hundred rubles. It's blasphemous to cash in on nostalgia like that.

Welcome to the Jungle - invite Guns "n" Roses to GTA: San Andreas.

Wii Sports

The Wii Sports mobile game went on sale in November 2006 and has sold over 82 million copies. The recipe for success turned out to be simple - the game was shipped directly in the box with the Nintendo Wii in all countries except Japan.

The game has received various awards for its innovative gameplay. This collection of five sports simulators involves motion control using controllers.

Mobility in the game has become a double-edged sword. On the one hand, people began to lift their fifths off the couch and spend time together playing exciting games. On the other hand, televisions suffered from this.

Flying controllers out of hand was not uncommon. After all, each of the sports in the set - tennis, baseball, bowling, golf and boxing - involves active hand waving. You can just forget that the bowling ball is rolling inside the game and try to knock down the pins with the plastic thing in your hand.

Minecraft

So beloved by the younger generation, Minecraft has sold 107 million copies. In 2011, Swedish programmer Markus Persson, who founded Mojang, released it for Windows, OS X and Linux. A few months later, it was released on Android, iOS, and then moved to the Xbox 360 and One, PlayStation 3, 4 and Vita game consoles. In 2014, Microsoft bought the development company Minecraft for $ 2 billion.

The game has become one of the most popular in the world. In total, over 107 million copies have been sold. But why did it become popular at all? Why do schoolchildren love her so much, constantly shoot videos on Youtube?

Perhaps, as in the case of GTA, the openness of the game world plays a big role. Minecraft gives room for imagination and creativity. You can hunt, you can build buildings and cities, or blow up something. And that's it - in a world similar to Lego. And Lego is loved, perhaps, by almost everyone.

Tetris

On June 6, 2016, Tetris turned 32. This game has been on almost all gaming platforms, as well as on graphing calculators and media players. Based on her motives, China wants to make a sci-fi feature film. And this will be done by American producer Lawrence Kazanov, who is responsible for the film "True Lies", and also took part in several animated television projects for Lego.

Why is there a calculator, you could play Tetris on the wall of a skyscraper

The game was created by the Soviet programmer Alexei Pajitnov. The name comes from "tetrimino" and "tennis". "Tetraminos" are geometric figures from four squares. There are seven such figures in Tetris. The pieces fall into a glass 10 cells wide and 20 cells high. The goal is to collect a horizontal row of 10 cells, which then disappear.

Over the history of the game, it has not only been ported to all kinds of platforms, but also changed the rules, complicated it, and refined it. Tetris was made voluminous, it was colored and black and white, with a variety of musical accompaniment. Even "physical" Tetris is being sold. In 2009, designer Andrew Liszewski began selling his 360-degree version, in which a figure appears in the center and then falls to whichever side the player chooses, flipping the console over.

The rights to use the slot machine game were purchased by Atari. Nintendo obtained the porting rights to the NES and Game Boy. Then, in the late 1980s, the game hit the Sega. And in 1996 Pajitnov founded the Tetris Company in order to start already receiving money for his invention. In 2014, the Tetris Company announced a deal to port the game to XboX One and PlayStation 4.

In 2014, the number of mobile installations of the game was 425 million, 35 million - on the Game Boy, plus another 70 million copies were sold. It is difficult to say how many unlicensed cartridges and devices with this game were sold.

So Tetris is not just a leader, but an absolute leader with a huge advantage.

Let's now talk about your favorite games. It doesn't matter how many copies of these games have been sold. What did you like to play before, and what are you playing now?

31.05.2018 Pavel Makarov

Computer games appeared almost immediately with the advent of computers as entertainment for employees serving these devices. In the late 80s and early 90s, professional studios began to appear. It was then that hits such as Doom, Wolfenshtein and other 3D shooters appeared. By the late 90s and early 2000s, the industry had developed into a significant entertainment industry. It was at this time that hits appeared that determined the direction of the development of video games. This article lists the top legendary games of all time on the PC, which have become the benchmarks in their genres.

Release date: 1999 year
Genre: network shooter, esports
Developer: id Software
Publisher: id Software

The legendary Quake III Arena sends the gamer to the proving grounds, where bloody and fierce battles are being waged. The game does not have a plot or classic character leveling in the generally accepted concept.

The players' task is to win in arenas, increase their rating, get points and purchase equipment and weapons for them. The peculiarity of the arena lies in its particular cruelty. Gamers turn each other into minced meat using a variety of weapons (there are grenade launchers, chainsaws, etc.). Getting into the arena, each hero is responsible only for himself. The victory goes to the last survivor.

Release date: 1998 year
Genre: first person shooter, Sci-Fi
Developer: Valve
Publisher: Valve

A game far ahead of its time. On the basis of Half-Life, dozens of similar projects were created, but it was she who won the minds and hearts of gamers around the world.

To survive in the harsh world of a single player, the player will have to constantly think over the strategy of passing. Most monsters can become deadly, just relax for a while and lose alertness. In addition to Half-Life, a multiplayer mode has been released, where players from anywhere in the world can play together or against each other.

Release date: 1997 year
Genre: historical real time strategy
Developer: Skybox Labs, Hidden Path Entertainment, Ensemble Studios
Publisher: Microsoft Studios

The Age of Empires strategic game series offered players a journey into an immersive world of historically significant events. The plots of the games in the series repeated the events that took place in real story humanity. Gamers are invited to accept one of the parties to the warring conflict, develop an army, build up power and participate in battles with artificial intelligence.

The AI ​​of the series has been constantly evolving, in order to defeat cunning opponents, the player needs to think over clear tactics for the development and conduct of war.

Release date: 1998 year
Genre: RPG in isometric, post-apocalypse
Developer: Black isle studios
Publisher: Interplay Entertainment

The famous Fallout 2 pulled the RPG genre of games from dark dungeons and fantasy forests, moving the game action into a dynamic world after nuclear war... The game has a special atmosphere of an apocalyptic world, where hordes of mutants come out to meet the character.

To go through Fallout 2, you need to go through the storyline, learn how to control the selected character, skillfully pump and dress him. Otherwise, the harsh post apocalyptic world will die completely, and the hapless hero will not be able to achieve his goal.

Release date: year 2000
Genre: RPG isometric, fantasy
Developer: BioWare
Publisher: Interplay Entertainment

Baldur's Gate II pleased the players with the appearance of 3 additional classes to those in the first part. The game is a classic RPG in the D&D style. Also, this part of Baldur's Gate confronts the player with many new types of opponents. You will have to cope with monsters, move forward in the plot in rather difficult conditions.

In Baldur's Gate II, the bar for gaining experience has been raised, the combat system and equipment extraction have been made more complicated. All these indicators make the gameplay interesting, but the gamer needs to show all the skill to get to the end.

Release date: year 2009
Genre: RPG about space with a non-linear storyline
Developer: BioWare
Publisher: Electronic arts

The darkest, most atmospheric and exciting part of the series Mass effect resurrects Captain Shepard to send him back to fight for the fate of the galaxy. Gamers are offered female and male variations of the main character, as well as several base classes, with which the fighting style and the captain's skills change.

According to the plot, new team members appear on the captain's ship, with whom the player will have to interact throughout the game. Many events, including the ending, depend on the moral choices and decisions of the gamer.

Release date: 1991 year
Genre: global economic strategy
Developer: MicroProse, Firaxis Games, Westlake Interactive, Aspyr, BreakAway Games
Publisher: MicroProse, Koei, Hasbro Interactive, Infogrames, MacSoft, Aspyr, Atari, 2K Games

Large-scale series of strategies Civilization offers the player to control human civilization from the dawn to the present. To go all the way from newly emerging humans to today's beautiful cities, cities must be rebuilt and managed. Some parts of the series supported a network mode, where players could fight not only with artificial intelligence, but also with each other for new territories and resources.

To bring their civilization to prosperity, the player needs to master the skills of tactics, diplomacy, and the basics of analytical thinking. Only those who are thought out by a civilization with a clear structure of development will come to victory.

Release date: year 2000
Genre: global strategy with RTS elements
Developer: The creative assembly
Publisher: Electronic Arts, Activision, Sega

Total War strategy has won the love of gamers thanks to detailed, large-scale battles. Total War can be played both in single mode and online. Players take the side of one of the factions, develop it to win wars against artificial intelligence or other gamers.

Depending on the style of play, units acquire unique traits and skills. The characteristics of the army, commanders, rulers of factions directly affect the ability to win wars with opponents.

Release date: 2004 year
Genre: Fantasy MMORPG
Developer: Blizzard Entertainment
Publisher: Blizzard Entertainment

MMORPG World of Warcraft has rightfully become one of the most massive in the history of world gaming. More than 100 million accounts, constantly full servers, regular updates with new locations and characters - all this speaks of the constant development of the game. World of Warcraft is focused on group play. Gamers, in order to pump and dress characters, need to constantly enter into alliances and conflicts with other people.

Achieving results can only be achieved through persistence and the ability to work in a team. Players are encouraged to visit raid dungeons and events daily to get top-end equipment.

Release date: 2003 year
Genre: Fantasy MMORPG
Developer: NCSoft
Publisher: NCSoft

Unlike most MMORPGs, Lineage II does not drop the player into one of the factions immediately after character creation. By choosing a class, starting to pump, the gamer will be able to make an informed decision who he wants to join. The PvP component in the game is assigned large space, but the players are facing battles with AI-controlled monsters.

A huge part of the gameplay is devoted to duels between players. To win, you need to thoughtfully use the offered talents, gain experience in battles with AI and dress your character well.

Release date: year 2000
Genre: online team first person shooter
Developer: Valve Corporation
Publisher: Valve Corporation, Sierra Entertainment

The multiplayer game Counter-Strike is a kind of arena with several ranges for battles. Players are on 2 sides: terrorists, special forces. To win, gamers need to complete the corporate mission of the map, destroy as many opponents as possible. The reward for kills and completed tasks are coins, for which you can purchase new equipment and weapons.

The better the weapon in the hands of the character, the easier it is for the player to succeed in the arenas. Requirements for gamers change on different servers, as well as the number of available factions (you cannot be an observer everywhere).

Release date: year 2013
Genre: MOBA
Developer: Valve Corporation
Publisher: Valve Corporation

One of the most popular games in the world - Dota 2. The action takes place in the arena for battles, where 2 teams of players collide (light and dark). Each player controls one character. Dota 2 offers dozens of different characters with unique skills. The heroes need to be controlled in different ways, so the overall outcome of the game depends on the skill of the gamer.

In case of victory in the arena, the player receives coins and an increase in the rating. For gold, you can buy new equipment and weapons for greater efficiency in battle.

Release date: 2002 year
Genre: open world fantasy RPG
Developer: Bethesda Game Studios
Publisher: Bethesda Softworks

The gamer's love for Morrowind has been ubiquitous since the game's release. Morrowind is a role-playing game, the main feature of which is the open world and the removal of restrictions from the gamer. The player is free to go wherever he wants and whenever he wants, without corridor locations. The storyline is present, its passage is mandatory for victory.

The player needs to choose a suitable character, dress and pump him. Exploration of the colorful world of Morrowind takes place along with battles with monsters, interesting side quests.

Release date: year 2012
Genre: open world first person shooter
Developer: Ubisoft Montreal, Massive Entertainment, Ubisoft Shanghai
Publisher: Ubisoft

Action with RPG elements has gained immense popularity among players. Far Cry 3 sends the protagonist to a picturesque tropical island, where he will have to fight for survival. The main boss of the game is a charismatic psychopath who intrigues the player throughout the entire passage.

A cooperative mode is available, where players will have to unite to complete all tasks and battles. In cooperative mode, a choice of different characters is available, not only the main character. The ultimate goal of the game is to survive by killing all the ill-wishers.

Release date: 2015 year
Genre: open world third person shooter, crime
Developer: Rockstar north
Publisher: Rockstar games

A dynamic adventure game that combines elements from all the popular genres of our time. In the fifth part, players got the opportunity to control not one protagonist, but three. To fully complete the plot of the game, you should switch between characters, use the unique abilities of each of them.

Also, the game contains universal skills that are useful in battle. The outcome of an exciting story depends on how the gamer distributes talents between the characters and what style of play he will use.

30 most played games | How to choose?

The absence of any statistics and research on video game sales complicates our task significantly, so we rely on the ratings and results that are published on VGChartz and Wikipedia. The problem is that on these resources only physical copies are taken into account, but online sales are not recorded. In addition, VGChartz does not divide games by compatibility with operating systems - Windows, Mac and Linux. Sometimes it is impossible to tell the difference between sales for PC and game consoles, because publishers provide incomplete information.

In general, in order to create the most accurate rating, we researched various publications and charts, while discussing the cultural influence of a particular game. That is why we did not call this article simply a rating of bestsellers (in terms of sales) and prepared a list of the most popular games in alphabetical order to make it look the least subjective.

We also decided to write about one game from the franchise so as not to clutter the rating with them and ultimately consider as many different games as possible. For example, we did not include The Sims in the rating because The Sims 2 sold many more copies. There are a number of games that undoubtedly left their mark on history (we are talking about Call of Duty or Grand Theft Auto), but they did not make it to our list, because they were sold in a much smaller circulation.

30 most played games | Age of empires

Age Of Empires is a strategy released in 1997 in which it was necessary to engage in the construction of civilization with the transition to different eras (from the Stone Age to the age of agriculture, then to the Bronze and iron age). We can say that the game combined Civilization II and Warcraft II, and its sales volume eventually reached three million mark.

30 most played games | Anno 1503: The New World

Anno 1503 A.D .: The New World combines real-time strategy and city ​​building simulator... The game was developed in Austria, released in 2003 and has since sold over three million copies.

30 most played games | Baldur "s Gate

This role-playing game (RPG) appeared in 1998 and has since sold over two million copies. Baldur's Gate is the first game in the famous fantasy world Forgotten Realms, the creation of which was largely influenced by the board game Advanced Dungeons & Dragons, released back in 1974.

30 most played games | Battlefield 2

The acclaimed first-person shooter, based on a fictional conflict in the 21st century, was released by Digital Illusions CE (DICE) in 2005 using specific RPG and strategy mechanisms that helped create an engaging multiplayer game. A million copies were sold in the first month after the release of the game, and on this moment the number of licenses sold worldwide was ten million, surpassing even the result of Battlefield 3 (although it is difficult to estimate such data, since EA does not separate sales of games for PC and game consoles).

30 most played games | Command & Conquer: Red Alert

This real-time strategy appeared back in 1996, and since then it has sold over three million copies, although it gained popularity more slowly than the new version - Red Alert 2. However, the interest of fans in this RTS game was maintained for a long time time, and at the moment Command & Conquer: Red Alert can be downloaded for free on the Internet.

30 most played games | Cossacks: European Wars

"Cossacks" - one more bright representative genre of real-time strategies. The game was released in 2001 for operating rooms Windows systems 95/98, then sold four million copies and received numerous awards and rave reviews in the press. The graphics of the game were especially noted, as well as its welcome video.

30 most played games | Counter-strike

Although Counter-Strike is a modification of the Half-Life game, we could not pass it by at least because of the large number of copies sold - after all, it reached four million units. In addition, the game has had a significant impact on the first-person shooter genre. In addition to popularizing gameplay by attracting a new fan base, Counter-Strike can also be praised for contributing to the development of various gaming tournaments.

30 most played games | Crysis

According to Crytek, three million copies of the game were distributed, which was released in 2007 and has since become one of the most popular in the series. The game takes place in a fictional future after the discovery of an alien spaceship. The player, protected by a special nanosuit-exoskeleton, has to fight the military of North Korea, as well as aliens.

30 most played games | Diablo iii

Diablo III is a new name on our list of popular video games. Blizzard created this game in 2012 and, according to the latest data, has sold 15 million copies. Incidentally, Diablo III holds the record for the fastest selling of PC games, with 3.5 million copies sold in the first 24 hours after release.

30 most played games | Doom 3

Another famous FPS shooter is still the most popular game by id Software. V new version, unlike previous games, a different plot was used, although the gameplay remained the same, despite the use of various tricks from the "horror" genre. Another drawback - the inability to use a flashlight and a weapon at the same time - did not prevent Doom 3 from scattering more than 3.5 million copies worldwide.

30 most played games | EverQuest

EverQuest is a massively multiplayer 3D online role-playing game that is still undergoing modernization. Since the game entered the market in 1999, Sony has managed to sell over four million copies, and by 2012 had released more than 19 add-ons.

30 most played games | Far cry

Far Cry is a story about an American special forces soldier who is looking for a journalist who disappeared on a mysterious island. The game went on sale in 2004, received a total of good feedback in the press and has since sold 2.5 million copies.

30 most played games | Guild Wars

Guild Wars is a striking representative of the genre of massively multiplayer online role-playing games, in which the gamer is required to choose any of six main professions and develop the corresponding skills. The game includes a PvP mode. Since 2005, more than 6.5 million copies have been sold.

30 most played games | Half-life 2

By 2008, Valve had announced the sale of over 6.5 million copies of Half-Life 2. This is exactly the case when the sequel became more successful than the original, which sold 10 million copies, because already now it has sold more than 12 million copies of Half-Life 2. not counting online sales. Half-Life 2 was originally invested $ 40 million, and the game, released in 2004, took 5 years to create. By the way, it was introduced at the same time that Valve launched its Steam service. Thus, Half-Life 2 was the first single-player game to require Internet activation.

30 most played games | Microsoft Flight Simulator

The game was released in 1996 under the name Microsoft Flight Simulator for Windows 95 and became a hit in North America. Popularity resulted in five million sales, and in 2009 the project was suspended. It is known that in 2012 the game Microsoft Flight was released without the Simulator prefix, which was characterized by more advanced graphics compared to previous versions of the popular simulator.

30 most played games | Minecraft

The game's official website is proud to announce 14 million copies sold, just a little short of Diablo III's 15 million mark. In Minecraft, gamers have to build for their own survival and use as many resources as possible for this. However, there is also a special "creative mode" (Creative mode), where it is impossible to die, and where literally all the conditions for creativity are created.

30 most played games | Myst

Next up is one of the few adventure games on our list, which was released back in 1993 and has since registered six million licenses sold. By plot the main character by the name of the Wanderer finds magic book, with the help of which he goes on a journey through different worlds. The game is extremely addicting in artistic plan and unlike many adventure games of the time, it featured a first-person perspective.

30 most played games | Populous

The old Lionhead website ranks 4 million, which is how many copies have been sold since Populous was released in 1989. The real-time strategy contains as many as 500 levels, and in each of them a piece of land is played out to be conquered. With this game, the foundations of the so-called "god simulator" were laid, and in Populous, the player uses supernatural abilities to help his people "be fruitful and multiply".

30 most played games | Portal 2

According to Valve, this first-person puzzle game has sold over four million copies. Portal 2 is the sequel to the game, released in 2011, which follows all the principles of the previous version. The action takes place in the Laboratory for the study of the nature of portals (Aperture Science), where special weapons are used to create portals, and each level is filled with challenging puzzles that will help you escape from the evil artificial intelligence.

30 most played games | RollerCoaster Tycoon

RollerCoaster Tycoon is a 1999 game with four million copies sold in North America alone. It represents the genre of economic strategy and is one of the most popular amusement park simulators. However, like many strategy games, the Xbox version of RollerCoaster Tycoon was far less successful.

30 most played games | Simcity 3000

The famous city-building simulator was released in 1999 and, according to statistics from EA, has sold five million copies, including an expanded version of SimCity 3000 Unlimited. Compared to its predecessor, SimCity 3000 has received rave reviews from the press and is a great example of a powerful city building simulator.

30 most played games | The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim

The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim is an RPG genre released in 2011. The action takes place 200 years after the events of the previous game in the series (The Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion), and the main character has to stop the return of the dragons and defeat the most powerful of them named Alduin. At the moment, five million copies of this game have been sold.

30 most played games | Starcraft

The most popular in the StarCraft series was the first version of the game, in which players find themselves in a fictional XXV century, where three playable races are trying to conquer the galaxy. StarCraft 1998 is a real-time strategy game. The game ultimately sold 11 million copies, half of which were owned by the residents of South Korea, where the game became wildly popular.

30 most played games | Star Wars: The Old Republic

According to some sources, Star Wars: The Old Republic has sold about three million copies. It is noteworthy that approximately $ 150-200 million was spent on the creation of this massively multiplayer online role-playing game. At the same time, Star Wars: The Old Republic became the fastest growing MMORPG project, as in the first three days after release, the number of players exceeded the million mark.

30 most played games | The sims 2

The Sims 2 is arguably the best-selling game in history. overall volume sales of which amounted to 20 million copies. In the new version of the "life simulator" from 2004, the main idea of ​​the first product of The Sims was supported, but the issue of the presence of naked characters, which could be seen using special cheat codes, had to be resolved. Later this error was corrected.

30 most played games | Theme park

This economic simulator appeared in 1994, and since then the developers have managed to sell 3.5 million copies of the game. At the very beginning, the gamer will have to build an amusement park in the UK, for which only £ 100 is allocated. The game gained popularity thanks in part to its eccentric humor and gameplay, which reminded us of RollerCoaster Tycoon.

30 most played games | Tomb raider II

The most successful game in the Tomb Raider series can be considered this particular version with improved gameplay and graphics, which helped it become a cult and sold eight million copies worldwide (3 million of which were intended for PC). Hardly anyone could forget that the action here unfolds around the Dagger of Xian, which gives the owner supernatural powers.

30 most played games | Warhammer 40,000: Dawn Of War

Developer THQ reports over four million copies sold, including all add-ons. A real-time strategy game, published in 2004, challenges players to protect certain areas on the map and collect resources for the subsequent construction of buildings and bases.

30 most played games | Where In The World Is Carmen Sandiego

And here is the main surprise of our rating - the game released in 1985 with more than four million releases, it is also the oldest of all on our list. This educational strategy forces players to search for enemies around the world, which requires finding various clues and developing detective skills.

30 most played games | World of warcraft

Well, this game has made perhaps the greatest impact on the culture of video games in the 21st century. It was released in 2004 on the basis of the previous version of WarCraft and has united over 10 million subscribers who invaded the world of Azeroth and chose the faction of the Alliance or Horde more suitable for them. In total, more than 14 million copies have been successfully sold. It is worth noting that this game raised the popularity of international tournaments and received its portion of ridicule in the South Park cartoon.

Well, this is what a selection of the 30 most popular games in PC history by version looks like.

Compiling such lists is always difficult. Differences in genres and release times, discrepancy in figures from different sources, and other "translation difficulties". However, the daredevils at tomshardware.com have put all the information together and here's what came of it.

15th place - Cossacks: European Wars

Cossacks came out in 2001 and took their place among the classic RTS series. A variety of troops and factions, an excellent drawing of weapons for those times, as well as epic battles in which up to 8000 combat units could participate at the same time - all this favorably distinguished the Cossacks from other games of the genre. Created by GSC Game World.

Circulation: 4 million copies

14th place - Diablo II

The second part of Diablo was released in 2000. After the first two weeks, more than 1 million copies were sold, for which Diablo 2 hit the Guinness Book of Records as the fastest selling game. An absolute classic of the genre, combining the possibility of an endless meat grinder with advancement in the plot and pumping of the selected character. Apparently, Blizzard Entertainment will release the 3rd part of this great game in May.

Circulation: 4 million copies

13th place - Counter-Strike

Valve released their masterpiece back in 1999 as one of the modifications for Half-Life. And still CS is one of the most popular games in many countries. It hardly makes sense to tell esports fans what CS is, because many of their gaming paths started with this game in cozy computer clubs.

Circulation: 4.2 million copies

12th place - StarCraft II: Wings of Liberty

The sequel to the famous StarCraft "a" was released in 2010. Changes in graphics and gameplay have long been condemned by fans of the first part of the game, but time has shown that the developers did everything according to their conscience. According to many, it was the release of StarCraft II that raised the bar for esports to a new level.

Circulation: 4.5 million copies

11th place - Riven

This game was released in 1997 by the Miller brothers. It became a sequel to Myth and differed from the original with improved graphics and more complex puzzles. However, the glory of the original could not be killed.

Circulation: 4.5 million copies

10th place - World of Warcraft: Cataclysm

The game was released in 2011 by the same Blizzard Entertainment as one of the additions to the original WoW. The game is the most popular MMORPG in the world, at the moment the number of subscribers is over 10 million people. The fantasy world of WarCraft has become a home for many.

Circulation: 4.7 million copies

9th place - Half-Life

One of the best first person shooter games. When Valve released Half-Life in 1998, it was voted Best Game of the Year by over 40 gaming titles. Thanks to ingenious solutions in the development of levels, gameplay and AI, the game has gained cult status.

Circulation: 5 million copies for PC (9.3 million copies for all platforms)

8th place - SimCity 3000

This is the third game in the SimCity series and is the most successful in the city life simulation genre. Compared to previous parts, SimCity 3000, released in 1999, favorably distinguished the graphical component and more complex schemes the work of some industries, especially those related to the processing and disposal of garbage. Developer - Electronic Arts.

Circulation: 5 million copies

7th place - Battlefield 3

A relatively new game on the list. The third installment of the famous Battlefield series was released in 2011. Electronic Arts has relied on stunning graphics and multiplayer. And although the plot of the single-player game was somewhat blurred because of this, the game received the highest praise from both gaming publications and from the gamers themselves.

Circulation: over 5 million copies (over 11 million across all platforms)

6th place - MineCraft

Another fresh product that came out only last year. Developers from Sweden invited players to create their own world from cubes, embodying their imagination in unknown architectural forms. Due to its uniqueness and simplicity, in just a year, the number of registered users of the game reached 24 million.

Circulation: 5.3 million copies

5th place - Half-Life II

The second part of the cult game was released in 2004. Over the course of a year, Half-Life 2 has collected about 40 awards for the title of "best game of the year". New engine, brilliantly executed animation of the world, advanced AI - thanks to this, the second part of the series still holds the first line of the most highly rated first-person shooters.

Circulation: over 6 million copies (12 million across all platforms)

And the first place in it is the Russian game.

Unlike the BBC, which commissioned film critics to compile its top, Time created its own. "Time's tech team has guided over 150 nominees through a multi-step evaluation process to compile a set of the best game ideas from nearly four decades," the magazine writes on its website.

Time's 50 Best Video Games

2. Super Mario 64

3. The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time

7. The Legend of Zelda

8. Super Mario Bros.

9. The Oregon Trail

10. World of Warcraft

Continuation of the list

11. Sid Meier's Civilization IV

12. Final Fantasy VI

13. SimCity 2000

15. Counter-Strike

16. Grand Theft Auto III

18. Rise of the Tomb Raider

19. Space Invaders

22. GoldenEye 007

23. Microsoft Flight Simulator X

24. Final Fantasy VII

25. Halo: Combat Evolved

26. StarCraft II: Wings of Liberty

27. Mortal kombat

30. Pokemon Red & Blue

32. Wolfenstein 3D

33. Super Mario Kart

34. Red Dead Redemption

41. ESPN NFL 2K5

43. Call of Duty 2

44. Super Smash Bros.

46. ​​Resident Evil 4

45: Gran Turismo 3: A-Spec

50. King's Quest III: To Heir Is Human

And now belly

Like all tops that claim to be “the best of all time and platform,” Time's list raises a lot of questions and looks very controversial.

You can endlessly list which games should have entered it and were not included. Let's say a famous racing series Need for speed not mentioned at all. Strategy and RPG genres are extremely poorly represented: there are no classic parts Warcraft, no series Heroes of Might & Magic and Total war nor The Witcher nor Baldur's Gate... And, what is absolutely criminal, not a single game in the world The elder scrolls.

They were hardly less significant to the history of video games than Braid, GoldenEye 007 or the next release of the hockey simulator from EA Sports. It is hardly fair that there are no TES games at all in the top, and there are three games about Mario. And if Pong as one of the first games in history, perhaps, deserves mention, then the existence of The oregon trail only very gray-haired old people remember.

Yes, and worthy series that hit the top are presented in it in a strange way. So, in some cases, for the entire game series, the first part is "blown away", although the sequels have surpassed it ( Mortal kombat, castlevania). In others, the series is represented by a sequel ( Fallout 3, StarCraft II, Rise of the Tomb Raider), although the original or a completely different sequel ( GTA III, although it was asking Vice city). Finally, in the third, the series was awarded several inclusion in the top at once, and almost all of them fell on the top 10 ( Super Mario, The Legend of Zelda).

Top Time, like the recent BBC Top of the 21st Century Films, once again reminds us: attempts to compile a list of the best films of all time are doomed to failure and misunderstanding. There are too many important works, any sample will be controversial. In addition, Time selected the 50 best games from only 150 candidates, and for the top of all time, they need to sort out under a thousand. It would be better if they tried to compile several separate tops by genre, era or platform - then the chance for objectivity would be much higher.

But all this will not prevent us from being proud that we came first " Tetris"Created by Russian programmer Alexey Pajitnov. This is the game that everyone has truly played.