Essays 13 October 2022, 14:16

14 Best-Selling RPGs - The Most Popular Role-Playing Games in 2022

There are many ways to measure popularity. Here, we've compiled a list of best-selling role-playing games, which have sold the most copies throughout their entire lifespan.

Skyrim

Developer: Bethesda Softworks

Year of release: 2011

Estimated number of copies sold: 30 million

NOTES

30 million copies reached in 2016. Currently, you can safely add several million more.

Jabbing at Skyrim's flaws today seems easy, as we're spoiled with polished games and a wealth of knowledge and experience we simply didn't have in 2011. However, it doesn't change the fact that Skyrim was, and remains, an outstanding RPG, despite its currently more pronounced imperfections, which are understandable a decade later. For many, it was the gateway into the RPG world, for others, it was just a vessel to take them into a completely different universe and play their own character, paying no heed to problems and tasks of dovahkiin. This became especially easy when the game began to take on a life of its own with numerous mods created by the fan community.

Ease of modification is probably the key factor that has contributed to this piece being so popular and selling so well. Skyrim's producer, Todd Howard himself, confirmed in an interview that mods are food for the game to ensure longevity. A weak combat system, poor dialogues, and even numerous technical problems and serious glitches didn't really damage Skyrim's reputation. The world of dragons and the immense freedom in an extremely atmospheric universe have allured players and will continue to do so until Bethesda releases the next installment in The Elder Scrolls series – which is sure to break new records.

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Skyrim