10 Highest-Selling Video Game Franchises Of All Time

Video games have come a long, long way since the early signs of an industry began poking its nose out in the 1950s.

From the beginnings of Bertie the Brain and Tennis For Two, to the modern-day global juggernaut that accounts for billions and billions in revenue each year, the video game industry is one of the largest and most diverse on the planet.

In amongst this incredible (and scarcely believable) mass of content that has been produced over time, sits a tiny fraction of titles and games that have seen the kind of success and notoriety the other 99.9% can only dream of.

It takes a mix of facets to not only create, but market and sell, a successful game. If it goes well, a franchise can be born. In fact, often it's the franchise that was always on the cards in the first place.

Regardless, finding success as a single title, let alone a series, in a market that's already saturated and overflowing every day is a minor miracle, one that a rare few have been able to achieve.

For reference, this is based on the amount of copies sold, not the total money made for the franchise.

Need For Speed has been a part of most childhoods for a quarter of a century and counting, from the originals in the early 1990s, to the revolutionary Underground series a decade later.

While the longtime success of the series is certainly visible, very few would have guessed that it has outsold some of gamings biggest juggernauts, including titles like Madden, the NBA 2K series and long-standing veteran of the gaming landscape, Sonic.

It's the highest-selling racing franchise in history, with two dozen titles already released and no sign of the series slowing down anytime soon, with a new release coming out every year on average.

The series has seen a host of changes throughout the years, doing a much better job than they get credit for at keeping up with, and even getting ahead of, the ever-twisting trends of the industry.

The latest game in the series, Need For Speed Heat, has barely been out for a few weeks and is already continuing the trend of solid reviews and high sales among a dedicated audience of racing fans.

The series doesn't look to be taking a backward step as the years progress and will no doubt continue to climb the best-sellers list in the future.