Top 10 Best Video Game Franchises
1) Mario
Mario had to earn the number one spot on the list for the sheer fact it is far and away the best-selling video game franchise ever. When you combine sales from all of the Mario franchises such as Super Mario, Mario Party, Mario Sports, Mario Kart, and Mario RPGs, you get nearly 500 million copies sold. The next best-selling franchise is Pokémon which had around 260 million copies sold as of October 2013. That's a pretty big gap…
Mario has been the staple of Nintendo for decades. The character has appeared in over 250 video games throughout his lengthy career. The first Super Mario Bros. on NES ranks in the top five best selling games ever with over 40 million copies sold alone. Mario Kart Wii is right behind it with over 35 million copies. New Super Mario Bros. also ranks in the top 10 all time best sellers with over 30 million.
Unlike other game franchises, there doesn't seem to be one Mario game that stands out as the agreed upon number one favorite. Some gamers love Super Mario Bros. 3 the best. Others love Super Mario World. Others are Mario Kart fans while others adore playing Mario Party with groups of friends. Then there's Super Mario Sunshine, Super Mario 64, and Super Mario Galaxy. The list of amazing games is huge! I don't think there can be any argument that Mario has made the biggest impact on the video game industry as both a character and a franchise.
ConclusionThe mark of a truly great video game franchise is the ability to keep fans wanting more. The franchises on this list have churned out titles year after year that have continued to sell and many of them have titles which are considered to rank among the best video games ever produced. There are tons of highly successful video game franchises so it's not easy to narrow it down to just 10. Many factors were considered when determining inclusion on this list including review scores, sales, total number of games released, number of years the franchise has been operating, and their overall impact on the gaming industry.
Halo before ZELDA?
Mario
Pokemon
The Elder Scrolls
Wolfenstein
Half-Life
GTA
Fifa (Madden? C'mon..)
Diablo
and some long dead franchises:
Quest for Glory
Monkey Island
Quake
Good choices!
No Grand Theft Auto! That franchise is the second best video game franchise ever.
And Grand Theft Auto San Andreas is best video game of all times
not a fan of this list,mine would be:
1. Mario (has to be)
2. Sonic (without sonic mario may not be what he is today)
3. Zelda
4. GTA (i don't even like these games but cant be ignored)
5. Half Life (this can include team fortress, portal etc)
6. Wii Sports (this got non-gamers gaming)
7. Street Fighter
8. Fifa
9. Resident Evil
10. Metroid
The big ones Ive missed are COD (no major changes ever year) and Pokemon (too many remakes/masters)
Horrible list, you need to distinguish between "best" and "most successful". Call of duty maybe a hot selling game but it's far from being the best. Why are there also no racing games and fighting games?
No Dragon Age, Witcher, Knights of the Old Republic, Neverwinter Nights, Or Elder Scrolls? A laughable list.
NO SONIC SONIC WAS AND IS A GREAT GAME FRANCHISE IT WAS THE CLOSEST TO BEATING MARIO BACK IN THE DAYS, I KNOW HE HAD HIS BAD GAMES LIKE SONIC 06 AND SONIC DRIFT AND MORE BUT STILL MARIO WAS THE BEST GAME AND SONIC WAS THE CLOSEST TO BEATING IT. I THINK SONIC DESERVES NO.2. AND TO BE HONEST I AM GLAD FIFA IS NOT ON THE LIST BECAUSE EVERY YEAR IT IS THE SAME THING EVERY TIME FOOTBALL MATCH AFTER FOOTBALL MATCH AFTER FOOTBALL MATCH EVEN WITH ULTIMATE TEAM I GET BORED OF FIFA EVERY 20 MINUTES. IF IT WASNT FOR SKILL GAMES SOMETHING DIFFERENT INSTEAD OF A MATCH I WOULD NOT PLAY FIFA AGAIN.
Madden NFL?!
FIFA and PES surely have better sales worldwide and these 2 franchises are a lot older and bigger.
Putting Halo over Zelda quickly removes most credibility this paltry list had to begin with, leaving out Metroid tossed out any remaining shred of credibility there was left.
Besides Mario and Zelda, other successful and also best selling franchises are GTA and The Sims. Where are they? :(
No Sonic? I agree with the rest though.
Assassins creed is terrible
glad,mario is 1st.No other franchise could beat mario
Im just happy metal gear is on this list
same
What the has this ever heard of Kingdom Hearts... And srysly no sonic, mario, or zelda
No assassins creed... No devil may cry... U gotta b kiddin me...
The list should have
2)Mario
1)SONIC FTW
COD and Madden are BS, there are a dozens of better titler, where is Metroid, GTA or Sonic, all better frachises and games
NO Castlevania
NOOOOO I hate this network
What are Madden and cod doing here ???
No Elder Scrolls? No GTA? Put in actual games not Madden or COD
No GTA?
No Tomb Raider?
No Street Fighter?
No Sonic?
No Need for Speed?
No FIFA?
No Asassain's Creed?
This list is totally bias. And Ground Zeros wasn't very good. It was too short.
No no no no legend of zelda is not 5 it is 1 and castlevania should not be on this list no has ever even heard of it
No Battlefield?
No GTA?
Screw this article!
Zela ALWAYS beats ALL of these for me, of course, I don't have qualms with you if you put Mario as the one exception. Anything else is unacceptable.
Silent Hill and Baldur's Gate!!!
Call of Duty shouldn't be on this list at all. And the Legend Of Zelda is the best game franchise ever created.
Madden but no FIFA, America isn't the world you know.
No Grand Theft Auto?