Video Game Franchise Sales: Official Figures, Series by Series

By Saif Ur Rahman Published 14 Oct 2026 Updated 14 Oct 2026
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Horizontal bar chart of the best-selling single game in seven video game franchises, in millions of copies. The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild leads at 34.06 million, then Monster Hunter: World at 22.40 million, the Resident Evil 2 remake at 19.75 million, Final Fantasy VII at 15.7 million or more, Persona 5 at 8.30 million, Kingdom Hearts III at over 5 million and Fire Emblem: Three Houses at 3.82 million. Six bars are blue for publisher figures and one, Fire Emblem, is grey for an industry body figure. The figures use different counting bases and dates, and series totals are not shown.

Which Video Game Franchise Has the Best-Selling Game?

The Legend of Zelda, and the gap to second place is twelve million copies

The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild is the largest single game in any franchise we track, at 34.06 million copies on Nintendo Switch as of 30 June 2026. Monster Hunter: World follows at 22.40 million, which also makes it the best-selling game Capcom has ever released. These figures are not like for like, and that is the point of this page. Capcom reports shipments including digital, Nintendo reports its own sold figure, Square Enix announces milestones that are floors, and one franchise has no current publisher figure at all.

! What each publisher actually gives you:

  • •
    Capcom publishes a table: Every title past a million units, restated quarterly. Monster Hunter and Resident Evil are the two series here that can be ranked completely.
  • •
    Nintendo publishes a top ten: Per console, and nothing below it. Three Zelda figures exist out of 26 releases, and Fire Emblem has none current at all.
  • •
    Square Enix and Atlus publish milestones: Press releases when a number is worth announcing. Dates scatter, figures are floors, and some games are only ever stated in pairs.

? How to read this page:

  • •
    Best-selling game, not series total: Publishers leave small titles out of their lists, so adding per-game figures into a series total would produce an estimate, not a fact.
  • •
    Every figure carries its date: They range from February 2019 to June 2026. A franchise low on this chart may simply have been counted longer ago.
  • •
    One figure is not the publisher’s: Fire Emblem: Three Houses is CESA’s number. It is marked as such rather than passed off as Nintendo’s.

How much a series appears to have sold depends heavily on how much its publisher chooses to say. Capcom discloses the most and looks the most complete; Sega discloses the least and looks the smallest. That is a disclosure gap, not a sales gap.

Continue reading below for the full detailed article →

What this page is

Video Game Franchise Sales, Series by Series

This is the index to every franchise sales breakdown on FactsFigs. Each series below gets its biggest single game, the figure its publisher states, the basis that figure is counted on, and a link to the full post behind it. It is one page that grows. When a new franchise is researched and published, it gains a row and a section here rather than a page of its own, so the link you save today keeps working.

Nintendo - 30 Jun 2026

The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild at 34.06 Million

Cover art for The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild, the best-selling Zelda game at 34.06 million copies on Nintendo Switch.

Nintendo publishes a top ten for each console and nothing beneath it, so Breath of the Wild and Tears of the Kingdom have official figures and almost nothing else in the series does. Breath of the Wild stands at 34.06 million on Switch as of 30 June 2026, the largest single-game figure anywhere in this cluster. Our Zelda post ranks all 26 releases, and says plainly that 23 of those figures are community-compiled rather than Nintendo’s.

Capcom - 30 Jun 2026

Monster Hunter: World at 22.40 Million, Capcom’s Biggest Game

Cover art for Monster Hunter: World, Capcom’s best-selling title of any series at 22.40 million units.

Capcom keeps the cleanest record in the industry: one page listing every title past a million units, restated every quarter. Monster Hunter: World is not just the series leader at 22.40 million, it is the best-selling game Capcom has ever released, ahead of every Resident Evil. Capcom footnotes a larger 30.40 million when the Iceborne Master Edition is folded in, which is why the bar shows the base figure.

Capcom - 30 Jun 2026

Resident Evil: The 2019 Remake of RE2 at 19.75 Million

Cover art for the 2019 Resident Evil 2 remake, the best-selling Resident Evil game at 19.75 million units.

The same Capcom table makes Resident Evil the most completely documented series here. The 2019 Resident Evil 2 remake leads at 19.75 million, having overtaken Resident Evil 5 after about fifteen years at the top. The post ranks fifteen mainline games and turns up a detail the raw table hides: the 2023 Resident Evil 4 remake has still not outsold the 2005 original.

Square Enix - 3 Sep 2026

Final Fantasy VII at 15.7 Million or More

Key art for Final Fantasy VII, the best-selling Final Fantasy game with a stand-alone Square Enix figure at 15.7 million or more.

Square Enix publishes no table at all. Its figures arrive as milestone announcements in press releases, which is why Final Fantasy’s numbers carry dates spread across 23 years. Final Fantasy VII sits at 15.7 million or more as of September 2026. Even calling it the series leader needs care, because Square Enix states Final Fantasy X only together with X-2, and never alone.

Atlus (Sega) - Nov 2022

Persona 5 at 8.30 Million, the Only Figure Atlus Gives

Cover art for Persona 5, the only Persona game Atlus has given a stand-alone sales figure, at 8.30 million.

Sega and Atlus disclose least of anyone here. Persona 5 at 8.30 million, from November 2022, is the only stand-alone per-game figure the series has. Everything published since is a sub-series total that bundles Royal and the spin-offs together. That is why our Persona post is a growth story rather than a ranking: there is no honest ranking to build.

Square Enix - Feb 2019

Kingdom Hearts III at Over 5 Million Shipped

Cover art for Kingdom Hearts III, the best-selling Kingdom Hearts game with a published Square Enix figure at over 5 million shipped.

Square Enix announced Kingdom Hearts III at over 5 million shipped within weeks of its 2019 launch and has not updated it publicly since. It called the game the fastest-selling in the series, never the best-selling, and the 2002 original may well be higher. Square Enix’s own last word on that original is 3.30 million, as of 31 March 2003, from an investor deck.

CESA - 31 Dec 2021

Fire Emblem: Three Houses at 3.82 Million, and Not From Nintendo

Cover art for Fire Emblem: Three Houses, the best-selling Fire Emblem game at 3.82 million lifetime units per CESA.

Fire Emblem is the one franchise here with no current publisher figure for its leader. Nintendo’s last number for Three Houses was 3.02 million in June 2020; the 3.82 million shown here is CESA’s, the Japanese industry association, as of December 2021. Engage does have a genuine Nintendo figure, 1.61 million as of March 2023, but it is far behind.

Every franchise on one page

Video Game Franchise Sales: The Full Index

The biggest single game in each series, what its publisher counts, and what the full post sets out to answer.

The Legend of ZeldaNintendoBreath of the Wild34.06sold, Switch30 Jun 2026All 26 releases ranked, and why only three figures are Nintendo’s
Monster HunterCapcomMonster Hunter: World22.40shipped incl. digital30 Jun 2026Every title past a million, from one maintained Capcom table
Resident EvilCapcomResident Evil 2 (remake)19.75shipped incl. digital30 Jun 2026Fifteen mainline games ranked, and the remake that has not caught its original
Final FantasySquare EnixFinal Fantasy VII15.7 or moreshipments + downloads, floor3 Sep 2026The five games Square Enix has counted twice, 2003 and now
PersonaAtlus (Sega)Persona 58.30soldNov 2022How the series climbed from 11.1 million to 30 million and more
Kingdom HeartsSquare EnixKingdom Hearts III5.00 or moreshipped incl. digital, floorFeb 2019Every game in the series, ranked
Fire EmblemCESAFire Emblem: Three Houses3.82lifetime, industry body31 Dec 2021How the series grew across the 3DS and Switch eras

Each figure is the publisher’s own statement except Fire Emblem, which is CESA’s: Nintendo has not given Three Houses a figure since 3.02 million in June 2020. The bases differ and are shown rather than reconciled, because they cannot be. Capcom counts shipments including digital, Nintendo counts its own sold figure, and Square Enix and Atlus announce milestones which are floors rather than exact totals. Dates run from February 2019 to June 2026. Monster Hunter: World is 22.40 million for the base game; Capcom footnotes 30.40 million including the Iceborne Master Edition. Series totals are deliberately absent: publishers omit small titles from their lists, so adding per-game figures would produce an estimate rather than a fact. No download is offered because these figures come from four publishers under four different sets of terms.

The part nobody else writes

How Each Publisher Counts, and Why the Numbers Are Not Comparable

Capcom publishes Platinum Titles, a single page listing every release past one million units with its platform and date, restated every quarter. It counts shipments including digital sales. It is the most complete per-title disclosure of any publisher here, which is why Monster Hunter and Resident Evil can be ranked end to end and the others cannot.

Nintendo publishes Top Selling Title Sales Units, a top ten for each console, and nothing beneath it. Those are Nintendo’s own sold figures and they are restated quarterly, but a franchise competing with Mario Kart and Pokemon for ten slots loses most of its catalogue. Zelda has three figures across 26 releases. Fire Emblem has none current at all.

Square Enix publishes neither. Its figures arrive as milestone announcements in press releases, phrased as floors: 15.7 million or more, over 5 million shipped. There is one title-level table in its entire investor record, a February 2004 roadshow slide, and it is 23 years old. Sega and Atlus disclose least of all, and increasingly in sub-series bundles rather than per game.

The consequence runs through every row above. A franchise can look smaller here because its publisher says less, not because it sold less. Reading this chart as a league table would get that backwards, which is why each bar carries its basis and its date.

Quick Answers

Which video game franchise has the best-selling single game?

Of the franchises tracked here, The Legend of Zelda. Breath of the Wild stands at 34.06 million copies on Nintendo Switch as of 30 June 2026, about twelve million ahead of Monster Hunter: World in second.

Why are there no series totals on this page?

Because publishers leave small titles out of the lists they publish. Adding the per-game figures together would produce an estimate rather than a fact, and this page only carries figures a publisher has actually stated.

Why do some figures say "or more"?

Square Enix and Atlus announce milestones rather than running totals, so 15.7 million or more means the game had passed that mark on that date. The real number is higher by an unknown amount.

Are shipped and sold the same thing?

No. Capcom reports units shipped to retailers plus digital sales, while Nintendo reports its own sold figure. A shipped number can run ahead of what buyers have actually taken home, so the two are shown separately rather than merged.

Why is Fire Emblem’s figure not from Nintendo?

Nintendo last gave Fire Emblem: Three Houses a figure of 3.02 million in June 2020 and has not updated it. The 3.82 million shown here is from CESA, the Japanese games industry association, as of December 2021, and is labelled as such.

Which franchises are missing?

Mario, Pokemon, Grand Theft Auto, Call of Duty and many others. A franchise appears here only once it has a full sales breakdown behind it, which needs the publisher to disclose enough to build one.

What a Game Cost

Are Games Really Getting More Expensive?

Sales figures say how many copies moved. They say nothing about what a copy cost, and the answer is less obvious than the headlines suggest. We priced five launch-window games and five current games from Nintendo, PlayStation and Xbox in the same money. Nominal prices rose between 24% and 140%, but the launch titles worked out at $92.97, $109.48 and $94.48 in 2026 dollars, above what the same publishers charge today.

Ranked by players, not sales

Best Couch Co-Op Games on PS5

Not every gaming question is a sales question. This one ranks fourteen PS5 games confirmed for genuine same-sofa co-op by how many people rated them on the PlayStation Store, which is a measure of reach rather than revenue. Minecraft leads with 1,989,494 ratings, and four of the fourteen reach PS5 only through backward compatibility.

The same question on Xbox

Best Xbox Co-Op Games

The Xbox companion to the list above, built the same way: fifteen games confirmed for local, same-console co-op, ranked by Xbox Store score. Split Fiction leads on rating at 4.9, while Minecraft's 4,185,746 ratings dwarf every other title on the list by an order of magnitude.

Data Source and Attribution

Capcom Platinum Titles Nintendo Top Selling Title Sales Units Square Enix investor relations Sega Sammy investor relations

Every figure on this page is a publisher statement with a date, except Fire Emblem: Three Houses, which is CESA’s and is marked as such. Monster Hunter and Resident Evil come from Capcom’s Platinum Titles as of 30 June 2026. Breath of the Wild comes from Nintendo’s Top Selling Title Sales Units as of the same date. Final Fantasy VII, Kingdom Hearts III and Persona 5 come from Square Enix and Atlus announcements of September 2026, February 2019 and November 2022.

No estimate sites or sales trackers were used anywhere on this page. Where a franchise’s own post uses a different source, this page uses the publisher figure instead and says so: the Zelda post is community-compiled and the Kingdom Hearts post is not built on Square Enix figures, but the rows here are.

FactsFigs reviews, cleans, and cross-checks every source dataset before shaping it into a data story. Each visualization is created and designed in FactsFigs Design Studio - an internal tool developed and owned by FactsFigs - and is the original work of a FactsFigs author, not an AI-generated copy of any existing graphic. Individual assets within a visual may or may not be produced with AI tools, but the design of the visual itself is solely FactsFigs' own.

Cover artwork is from Wikipedia and remains the property of each publisher. Figures are estimates at the time of publication, provided for information only - nothing here is financial advice or a guarantee of accuracy.

Last verified: 14 Oct 2026

The charts in this article were built with our own publishing system. See what it does →