What are the most popular PC games of all time?
Have you ever wondered what are the most popular PC games of all time? While there are many ways to determine a game’s popularity, the easiest way to understand a game’s impact is the number of units it has sold. So we thought we would break it down in order and showcase the top 15.
PUBG: Battlegrounds
Players Unknown Battlegrounds is a hugely popular survival shooter that brought the battle royale genre to a wider player base. Set in a post-apocalyptic world where law and order have broken down, players scavenge for weapons and then fight to the death. Only one of the many players survives and wins the round, so winning feels like a real achievement.
The game has won countless awards and has sold an incredible 42 million copies since its release in 2017, more than any other game. It remains quite popular today despite competition from Fortnite and many other games where the goal is to survive until every other player dies.
Minecraft
Minecraft is one of the most brilliantly designed games ever made. While there is combat, the main goal is to build whatever you want using 3D cubes. Players must first survive in the wilderness, then gather resources to make better tools, and then work on unique building projects.
Players can modify Minecraft to create their own games. You can create an action game, an RPG, or even a racing game using Minecraft.
You can download countless mods for the game, so many people have played Minecraft since its release in 2011. With 33 million copies sold, Minecraft is the second best-selling game of all time.
Terraria
Like Minecraft, Terraria is a game about surviving, building, and crafting in a huge procedurally-generated world. Even more so than Minecraft, the game has no clear objectives. The player is allowed to set their own goals and take on whatever challenges they decide upon.
Unlike Minecraft, the game is a 2D side scroller without 3D graphics. However, there is still so much to build, explore, and do in the terraria world. The game has sold an incredible 23 million copies.
Diablo III
Games from Blizzard Entertainment are reliably good for what they are and Diablo III is no exception. The art direction is incredible and it immerses you in a fantasy world full of demons and angels rather than orcs and dragons.
Diablo III is a great game because of its deep and immersive story, exciting combat system, satisfying loot collecting, and extensive endgame content. Additionally, the game has excellent graphics, fantastic writing, and an always-available online community.
Like the first two games, Diablo III is a fast-paced monster-bashing and loot-collecting game with a lot of replayability and multiplayer with a relatively small number of players. The game has sold 20 million copies and has been followed by two sequels, Diablo Immortal and Diablo IV.
Garry’s Mod
Many games such as Terraria, Minecraft, and the very different Garry’s Mod reached the heights of success by allowing players to do whatever they want and not progress towards a clear goal.
It is a physics playground where you weld different objects together and try to make unique things happen with the physics engine. This both a highly original and highly successful game has sold 20 million copies.
World of Warcraft
Released back in the mid-2000s when popular MMORPGs such as Everquest often had only a few hundred thousand players, the game’s player count shot up exponentially and proved that MMORPGs were a mainstream genre with mass appeal. World of Warcraft has sold 14 million copies and made a colossal fortune from monthly fees.
Euro Truck Simulator 2
Euro Truck Simulator 2 is a great game because players are able to experience the feeling of driving an actual truck and admiring the beautiful countryside of Europe as they drive.
Players have the ability to choose their own journey and destinations, customize their truck and trailer as they see fit, and take part in economic activities such as cargo deliveries and truck service. The game’s realism (a recreated Europe and an advanced physics engine) helped the game sell 13 million copies.
Stardew Valley
Stardew Valley is an open-ended country-life RPG. You play a character who takes over their late grandfather’s farm in a small, rural town called Stardew Valley.
You can grow and cultivate crops, build relationships with the townsfolk, explore the world and dungeons, craft items, and more. Like many of the other games on this list, it is open-ended. Stardew Valley has sold 13 million copies.
Rust
Rust is a survival game that puts players in a hostile environment where they must scavenge resources, build a shelter, and fight off other players and wildlife. The game has an emphasis on crafting and cooperation, and ultimately your survival will depend on your ability to work together with other players.
Playing Rust is not like playing Minecraft. It’s a more hardcore and difficult game where other players are out to kill you everywhere.
Rust is a great computer game because of its intense and unpredictable atmosphere, unique crafting system, and wide range of ways to play. This allows gamers to create in-depth strategies and team-ups and have an overall unique experience every time they log in. It has sold 12.4 million copies.
Half-Life 2
Half-Life 2 is widely acclaimed as a great game due to its solid story, excellent level design, memorable characters, detailed world-building, and fun gameplay. It also has outstanding graphics and immersive sound design which make you feel fully immersed in the game.
Half-Life 2 has a perfect blend of action, puzzles, exploration, and story, and its mix of both linear and nonlinear elements make it a game that can be replayed multiple times, with players discovering new paths and Easter eggs each time.
Anyone who loves older first-person shooter games should try it. It’s not surprising that Half-Life 2 sold 12.3 million copies.
The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt
The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt is an action RPG packed with content. There are hundreds of hours’ worth of interesting places to explore, excellent and varied combat, and a great story with characters.
Players battle monsters, explore and take on contracts, and engage in vast storylines full of personal and political intrigue. With a vibrant setting, gorgeous visuals, and fantastic writing, it’s no wonder that this is one of the most beloved RPGs around.
While most of the top-selling games of all time use relatively simple graphics, The Witcher 3 is a relatively good choice for people with powerful gaming PCs as the game’s graphic potential is immense on high-end machines. The Witcher 3 has sold 12 million copies.
The Sims
The Sims is an open-ended life simulation game series developed by Maxis and published and distributed by Electronic Arts. It allows players to create and control virtual people called “Sims”, build and design their unique homes, and help them navigate their own unique lives.
The Sims is an excellent game because it allows people to express their creativity and experience the thrill of living vicariously through the lives of their Sims.
The game also offers endless possibilities for building, renovating, and customizing homes and neighborhoods. Finally, the game’s large selection of modes and options allows players to tailor their experience to their preferences and interests.
Many successful sequels to The Sims have appeared over the last couple of decades, but none were quite as successful as the original. The Sims has sold 11 million copies.
StarCraft
Starcraft is my favorite classic video game. It’s a fast-paced old-school real-time strategy game with three completely different but very well-balanced races.
The map editor was incredibly powerful for the time. It lets you completely change the nature of the game while being easy to use.
The game’s accessibility and intense multiplayer battles have kept it popular for over two decades and cemented its legacy as a classic. StarCraft‘s influence is seen in the countless games it has inspired, from the diverse strategy games of the modern era to the science fiction real-time strategy games of today.
Probably the sequel is a better choice if you want to play Starcraft today, but there’s still fun to be had with the original. The game has sold 11 million copies.
RollerCoaster Tycoon 3
RollerCoaster Tycoon 3 (often abbreviated as RCT3) is a construction and management simulation computer game. players can build and manage their own amusement park with various attractions such as roller coasters, go-karts, Ferris wheels, and bumper cars.
Players can also design their own roller coaster designs and share them with others online. It was developed by Frontier Developments and published by Atari, selling 10 million copies. Anyone with any interest in old-school tycoon games should try it.
Fall Guys
Fall Guys is a lighthearted party game full of wacky and silly obstacle courses interspersed with mini-games that feature elements like jostling, falling, and avoiding obstacles. The game also features a unique character customization system, allowing players to create their own unique costumes.
The game also features entertaining visuals and a season-based narrative structure. Additionally, the game is compatible with online multiplayer, making it the perfect party game. It is also a battle royale game, so it pits teams of up to five players against each other in a battle to be the last one standing. It has sold 13 million copies.
