15 Games That Earn Much More Than You Think

Do you know people in the US spent over $43 billion on games in 2018? You may never imagine how much a video game company can earn through just one single game and how many players are playing it. Well, read on to find out how much 15 of the best-selling games have made. 

1. Minecraft - $2.7 Billion

Minecraft is a sandbox game created by Markus "Notch" Persson. It first launched in 2011 on PC and an Xbox version released in 2012. Now, there have been over 180 million copies sold across all platforms, which makes approximately $2.7 billion in total.

2. Fortnite - $2.4 Billion

Fortnite is an online battle royale game developed by Epic Games in 2017. It has been one of the games that earn so much money so quickly. By March 2019, there have been over 250 million players with overall revenue of $2.4 billion.

3. Pokémon Go - $4.7 Billion 

Pokémon Go is a game that allows you to "capture" Pokémon on your phone. Since its release in 2016, the downloads have achieved over 1 billion, which is not really a surprise with the extremely high popularity of the whole Pokémon series. As of 2019, the entire series has made more than $90 billion.

4. PlayerUnknown's Battlegrounds - $1.5 Billion

Also known as PUBG, PlayerUnknown's Battlegrounds basically started the battle royale trend. PUBG has sold over 50 million copies across all platforms since its release in 2017 and earned over $1.5 billion. 

5. Madden NFL - $4 Billion

As the only official NFL game, EA's Madden franchise started as "John Madden Football" in 1988. With an extremely real NFL experience, the game has sold over 130 million units so far, and the series has grossed an estimated $4 billion. 

6. Grand Theft Auto V - $6 Billion

Speaking of the best-selling games, Rockstar Games' Grand Theft Auto V (GTA5) remains a classic until this day. It holds various sales records since its release in 2013. It appears that hijacking cars and racing around for wild things are attractive enough to gather over 110 million people, which has grossed more than $6 billion by itself, and $9.3 billion as of the whole series.

7. Red Dead Redemption 2 - $1 Billion

Another game that has to be mentioned also comes from Rockstar Games. Released in October 2018, Red Dead Redemption 2 has captured more than 35 million hearts with the story of the Wild West outlaws. It's the best-selling game in its first week of release in the UK and has made about $1 billion within the week. 

8. Call of Duty: Black Ops 4 - $1 Billion

Call of Duty by Activision is such a well-known game series, which has earned over $17 billion since 2003. Particularly, Call of Duty: Black Ops 4 has sold the best with $1 billion as of 2018 and ranked as the second best-selling game in the US behind Red Dead Redemption 2.

9. FIFA - $10.1 Billion

Just like people's passion for soccer itself, EA's soccer game, FIFA, stays in an outstanding position over the years. It has brought EA more than $10.1 billion since 1993, with over 260 million copies sold by 2018. 

10. World of Warcraft - $10.6 Billion

World of Warcraft is a massively multiplayer online role-playing game (MMORPG) by Blizzard Entertainment. Since its release in 2004, it has made over $10.6 billion in revenue, with more than 36.9 million units sold, making it one of the highest-grossing video games of all time.

11. The Sims - $2.5 Billion

The Sims is a life simulation video game made by Maxis and published by EA. It has grossed more than $2.5 billion in revenue since 2000. The franchise has sold over 200 million units internationally, which makes it one of the best-selling video game series ever. 

12. Dungeon Fighter Online - $13.4 Billion

Released in 2005, Dungeon Fighter Online has attracted over 600 million players worldwide as a massively multiplayer online (MMO) game. It has grossed more than $13.4 billion as of 2019 and made its name to the best-selling video game list.

13. The Legend of Zelda - $3.4 Billion

The Zelda series has been one of the most iconic properties of Nintendo. As an action-adventure game, The Legend of Zelda has sold more than 90 million units and grossed over $3.4 billion since its original release in 1986. 

14. Final Fantasy - $10.6 Billion

As a role-playing game, Final Fantasy has been a successful series. So far, it has sold over 152 million units and made more than $10.6 billion since 1987. Among the whole series, Final Fantasy VII earned the best-selling position, with more than 12.3 million copies shipped alone. 

15. League of Legends - $10 Billion

League of Legends may be a crucial game that makes MOBA (multiplayer online battle arena) games so popular. As of 2018, it has kept an active user base of more than 111 million players, with over $10 billion earned in total since 2009.