10 Greatest Selling PC Games That Sold More Than 9 Million

Not all video games that are developed have sold in millions. There are few games that have sold in millions. With the progress in technology, the gaming industry has become versatile and hi-tech. Many brilliant games come into the market with amazing graphics, game play, creativity and sound and animation effects. There are some games that have done well in the past when the gaming technology was still young. With the increase in piracy, people buying games from the retail stores have decreased tremendously in recent times. The government has taken many crucial steps to cut down piracy in their countries. Some games have sold more than 10 million even during the age of piracy. Let’s look at some of the greatest PC games ever produced breaking many records including Guinness World Records.

Here is the list of 10 greatest selling PC games ever that sold more than 9 million copies worldwide:

10. Half-Life – 9.3 Million

Half-Life is a first person shooter game released in 1998 by Sierra Studios for Microsoft Windows. Valve L.L.C developed the game and it became a huge success in the gaming market. The game is now available for PlayStation 2, OS X, and Linux platforms. By November 16, 2004 the game sold eight million copies worldwide and by December 2008 it sold more than 9.3 million copies. The game doesn’t have “levels”, but instead has “chapters” that progresses continuously as the player proceeds. The game saves itself after every chapter is crossed. At E3 1998 it won the Game Critics Awards for “Best PC Game” and “Best Action Game”. The game also has a place in the Guinness World Records for becoming the Best-Selling First-Person Shooter of All Time (PC) in the Guinness World Records: Gamer’s Edition 2008.

9. Half-Life 2 – 9.4 Million

Half-Life 2 is the sequel of Half Life with better graphics, physics, animation, sound, AI, narrative and game play experience. Half-Life 2, released on November 16, 2004 sold more than 9.4 million copies. The game is considered as one of the greatest and most important video games of all time. The game won 39 “Game of the Year” awards and the title of “Game Of The Decade” at the 2012 Spike Video Game Awards. The readers of The Guardian choose the game as the best game of the decade. Similar to its predecessor, Half-Life 2 also has chapters, puzzling game play and amazing weapons.

8. Garry’s Mod – 10 Million

Garry’s Mod known as GMod is another wonderful sandbox physics game available in single-player and multi-player modes. Garry’s Mod is a creation of Garry Newma. The initial release of the game was on December 24, 2004 which was available for Microsoft Windows. Later, other subsequent releases of the game for OS X and Linux came into existent. As of January 2016, the game has already sold more than 10 million copies. The game is expected to be sold more in the coming years. The fun-filled game is all about manipulating items within the sandbox. With the help of the Physics Gun one can pick objects in the game. As of September 2015, a sequel is under development and is expecting a release.

7. StarCraft – 11 Million

StarCraft is one of the Blizzard Entertainment’s most successful video game. StarCraft was first released on March 31, 1998. The original game and its official expansion have been praised as one of the benchmark real-time strategy games of its time. The game has sold more than 11 million copies worldwide placing itself in the 2008 edition of Guinness World Records with four records. The science fiction game has a story of its kind in the Milky Way. Many sequel of the game have been released after the success of its initial release. The game is available for Windows, Nintendo 64 and OS X. In 1998, the game was the bestselling PC game. Many of its sequels also hold records as best sellers.

6. The Sims – 11.24 Million

The Sims is one of the world’s greatest selling PC games of all time. The game is a life-simulation video game developed by Electronic Arts and released in the year 2000. The franchise or the sequels of the game in various platforms have sold more than 165 million copies worldwide. The Sims is the older version of a virtual world like the recent Grand Theft Auto. The game simulates the daily activities of one or more virtual people (“Sims”) in a suburban household near a fictional city. The game’s design was led by Will Wright who is also responsible for the design and development of SimCity.

5. Counter-Strike – 12.5 Million

Counter-Strike is one of the most popular games of 21st century. The first person shooter game was first released on June 19, 1999 by Valve Corporation. Many versions of the game have been released in recent times such as Counter-Strike: Condition Zero and Counter-Strike: Source. The game has sold more than 12.5 million copies worldwide. The game became first available for Microsoft Windows and later became available for other platforms such as PlayStation 3 and Xbox 360. The multiplayer shooter game is all about fighting terrorists in a team of counter-terrorist team to prevent and perpetrate the act of terror. The stream version of the game was a popular shooting game among young gamers.

4. Diablo III – 13 Million

Diablo III sold 3.5 million copies within 24 hours of its release in May 15, 2012 becoming as the fastest selling PC game. It broke more records that year by selling more than 13 million copies and became the bestselling PC game of 2012. The game is an action role-playing video game by Blizzard Entertainment. Diablo III was first released for Microsoft Windows and OS X and later for Linux, PlayStation 3 and Xbox 360. In the game, players choose one of six characters to defeat the Lord of Terror, Diablo. The overall game and the game play of Diablo III were praised by IGN, in particular the rune and loot systems. Many major magazines and websites wrote positive about the game. The game was a subject of controversies in North Korea, Germany and France.

3. World of Warcraft – 14 Million

World of Warcraft was first released in the year 2004 by Blizzard Entertainment. The game has sold over 14 million copies worldwide. The game released for Windows and OS X is a massively multiplayer online-role playing game, also known as MMORPG. As of January 2014, Blizzard announced that over 100 million accounts have been created. The game holds the Guinness World Records for the most number of MMOPRG subscribers. In the game, players choose a character avatar within a third or first person view exploring, interacting and fighting in the virtual world of other players, monsters, and completing the quests. This game saw a new era in the space of MMOPRG games which introduced many improvements over other previously released similar games. Blizzard Entertainment also introduced players to buy virtual goods in the game later on.

2. Overwatch – 15 Million

Overwatch is the newest game in this list that has overtaken many other previously successful games in terms of sales. Overwatch is from Blizzard Entertainment which was released on May 24, 2016 worldwide and saw sales of more than 15 million copies. The game is expected to sell even more and has the potential of overtaking Minecraft. The first-person shooter game is available for Microsoft Windows, PlayStation 4, Xbox One. This game has received many critics and reviews about its enjoyable gameplay. In the game the players are put into two teams of six where each player can select one predefined hero character with unique skills and movements. Players in each team defend and secure the control points on the map. The game is definitely an addictive multiplayer first-person shooter game.

1. Minecraft – 24 Million

Minecraft is the greatest PC game ever created in the history of video games. The addictive game sold more than 24 million copies worldwide. The game was released for PC in the year 2011 when the graphics world for gaming was evolving rapidly. The sandbox game comes as a single player mode as well multiplayer mode for a wide range of platforms such as Windows, Linux, Mac OS, Android, XBOX 360, PlayStation and iOS. The game was first programmed by Swedish programmer Markus “Notch” Persson and later developed and published by Mojang.