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Shatts on 17 July 2023
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Salnax said:

I'm not sure why you have both Fortnite and PUBG. Sure, PUBG sold pretty well, but Fortnite has long since eclipsed it and has endured for years now, becoming the iconic game of an era.

Including PUBG on this list is like including something like Hydlide on the list. Sure, Hydlide was popular and influential in the mid-80's, but its time in the spotlight was so short that it's hard to say that it stands out from the likes of Dragon Quest or Legend of Zelda.

Besides that, I'd argue that GTA should be above Call of Duty. Both have sold similar amounts, but GTA has set the bar for open word games several times, whereas Call of Duty, though popular, didn't do very much to xpand the FPS genre, war games, online multiplayer, etc (at least when we consider that Halo and Medal of Honor did much of the work for it).

I would also like to nominate Dragon Quest for at least an honorable mention. Its popularity may be limited outside of Japan, but you have to give it credit for making the JRPG sub-genre, making the greater RPG genre mainstream, genre and being a prominent force in said genre for decades since, regularly defining what the genre is.

Although Fortnite has completely passed its peak, it is still one of the most played and top grossing games today. It became like Roblox in a way. You just aren't aware because you don't see it as much. Same for PUBG, but significantly bigger on mobile. Yes I am counting mobile, they are still games. PUBG is Top 10 because it found a massive audience in China becoming the top grossing on mobile constantly. Both franchise has passed $10 billion in lifetime revenue according to evaluations, which not many franchises has done. 

GTA hasn't seen a new proper game for like 10 years. In those 10 years, Call of Duty has achieved massive success consistently. If we look at success per game, GTA takes it. But CoD also has a successful mobile game which GTA doesn't. This gave it a boost in popularity in regions where mobile gaming is huge (mainly southeast asia).
*To be clear here, I'm not just rating it on which franchise has more wins in each category or anything, but for reference.

CoD > GTA in total copies sold. CoD: apx. 425m, GTA: apx. 400m
CoD > GTA global reach
CoD >= GTA in revenue from estimations using official report
CoD >= GTA status quo
GTA > CoD impact to industry

It depends on how well GTA 6 does and how long till it releases. Overall, CoD is above GTA in today's world, but I assume GTA would pass it easily IF a new game from the franchise releases.

I'm glad you mentioned Dragon Quest it's a good one. It became a cultural phenomenon in Japan and it was rare to see someone that didn't know what it is at its peak. Its effect on the industry is pretty massive and can't be ignored. Also has generated huge revenue despite only coming from Japan. The franchise did a good job keeping relevancy, but hasn't seen growth since its peak. Perhaps even declining in popularity to the point many youngsters in Japan don't know what it is. Like you mentioned, it failed to find an audience globally (although they probably didn't even try).  Global reach is valued for this list because there are multiple massive franchises only popular in certain countries or regions. Those are difficult to put it in the Top 10 if we are talking about the Top franchise in the world. Since we are talking about Japan, both Monster Strike and Puzzle Dragons is just as massive, if not bigger than Dragon Quest. They all didn't find success overseas however. In China Arena of Valor is the biggest game, nobody knows what that is including me overseas.

I think it depends on how well DQ12 does. 

Last edited by Shatts - on 17 July 2023