There's a common confusion behind calculating the game's success in that the more copies sold to the market, the more revenue it rakes it. Well, the truth of the matter is that it doesn't. Factors like the baseline cost, subscriptions as well as DLCs play a major role in the overall revenue of the game. And today, research reveals that World of Warcraft is without a doubt, the highest grossing game of all time.
World of Warcraft In Numbers
For over 13 years since its release, Blizzard has enjoyed stellar stature to its longest running MMORPG, World of Warcraft - raking in tons of revenues for every expansion that they make. The title had its peaked during its Cataclysm expansion where Blizzard announced that the game had an estimated 13 million active subscribers. These numbers, however, seemed to diminish upon the release of subsequent expansions; but nonetheless, the game still reigned at the number 1 spot for the most active users for all MMORPGs to date.
Following the release of Legion, Blizzard announced, during the company's quarterly financial report, that the new expansion brought about a total of 10.1 million active subscribers alongside the 25+ million subscribers of their recently released FPS title Overwatch. These sheer numbers led to the studio's astounding increase in GAAP (Generally Accepted Accounting Principles) by 58%.
Today, a research compiled by Statista and reported by insidermonkey, reveals that the longest running MMORPG has accumulated a total revenue of $9.23 billion across all expansions. The game easily topples down the number 2 spot which Crossfire currently holds. Here's the overall list for the top grossing games of all time: (descending order)
Rank 1: World of Warcraft - $9.23 billion
Rank 2: Crossfire - $7.13 billion
Rank 3: Street Fighter 2 - $6.15 billion
Rank 4: Wii Sports - $5.19 billion
Rank 5: Lineage - $4.75 billion
Rank 6: Pac-Man - $4.47 billion
Rank 7: Wii Fit - $4.43 billion
Rank 8: Dungeon Fighter Online - $4.37 billion
Rank 9: Puzzle and Dragons - $3.85 billion
Rank 10: Space Invaders - $3.84 billion
Rank 11: Fantasy Westward Journey - $3.69 billion
Rank 12: League of Legends - $3.59 billion
