The gaming industry has gone from strength-to-strength over the past couple of decades and its success looks set to continue for many years to come.
As highlighted by recent research by Betway Insider, the thrilling nature of gaming is a characteristic that many people are unable to ignore.
Much of the industry’s success has been built on game franchises, each of which has sold millions of copies worldwide since they were first launched. Read on as we look at the top five.
1. Tetris
According to a recent study by Statista, the puzzle game Tetris is the best-selling video game franchise worldwide having sold almost 497 million units by the end of last year.
Created by Soviet software engineer Alexey Pajitnov in 1984, the game has since been published by several companies for multiple gaming platforms.
While actual sales are difficult to break down by console, it is widely reported that the Game Boy version of Tetris has sold the most copies worldwide.
2. Call of Duty
The first-person shooter series Call of Duty placed second on the list with around 400 million unit sales worldwide and that tally will increase sharply later this year.
The eagerly-anticipated Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2 is guaranteed to spark huge excitement amongst the gaming community when it is released.
Modern Warfare 1 earned over $600 million within the first three days of its release – the sequel is expected to smash that figure out of the ballpark.
3. Super Mario
Given that it is a sub-series of the greater Mario franchise, it is astounding to discover that Super Mario is just behind Call of Duty in the unit sales stakes.
Super Mario has received huge critical acclaim, with dozens of review sites including titles from the series towards the top of their all-time lists.
Whereas rival game Sonic the Hedgehog has often been guilty of failing to push the boundaries, the same cannot be said about a series that continues to evolve.
4. Pokemon
First released in Japan in 1996, it is fair to say that Pokemon video games have become firmly established as a global phenomenon.
While the main series consists of role-playing games developed by Game Freak, many spin-offs have been developed by various other companies.
One of the most popular spin-off titles – Pokemon Go – accumulated more than one billion lifetime downloads following its release in 2016.
5. Grand Theft Auto
Since Grand Theft Auto III arrived on the scene in 2001, the series has become one of the most popular game franchises in history.
It was voted as one of Britain’s top designs in the Great British Design Quest in 2006, appearing alongside cultural icons such as the Aston Martin DB5, Concorde and the World Wide Web.
GTA 6 is believed to be in the works, although developers Rockstar are not expected to be ready to release it until 2025 at the earliest.
