WWE Video Games Have Sold Over 95 Million Copies Worldwide

WWE games have sold a staggering 95 million copies globally, making it the best-selling fighting video game franchise in history. This figure includes all of the titles published by THQ and 2K since the start of this millennium. Furthermore, the brand’s games have also been a major success on mobile, with over 150 million downloads across all its mobile titles.

Timur222 on Twitter aggregated this info from a July 2022 License Global report. In the ranking from last year, the global consumer product publication placed the WWE at No.40 among the world’s top brands. Per the report, the wrestling brand makes $1 billion in retail every year around the world. And, as revealed above, video game revenue plays a big part in this profit.

WWE is the No.1 best-selling fighting video game franchise in console history with more than 95 million units sold and is a top performing mobile gaming brand with 150 million dowloads across its gaming portfolio.”

WWE video games have a long history, and as a result, these figures aren’t only for titles published by 2K. Before 2K, THQ was the publisher of the games based on the wrestling brand, and it did end up creating classic titles. The franchise started with 2000’s WWF SmackDown, which had several sequels, including the legendary Here Comes the Pain in 2003.

Via License Global/WWE last year's report.
WWE 2K franchise sold over 95 million units. pic.twitter.com/yRCFqMVZ5y

— Timur222 (@bogorad222) April 13, 2023

This new series went on until 2010 and is responsible for some of the best games in the fighting genre. WWE SmackDown vs. Raw 2006 is a fan favorite and is considered by many as the peak of the series. However, the franchise really peaked in sales with WWE SmackDown vs. Raw 2008, which has sold over 6 million copies as of 2008. Publisher THQ dropped the famous branding with WWE ’12, and the company liquidated one sequel later.

Following this, Take-Two Interactive took over the publishing rights for WWE games to release them under its 2K banner. WWE 2K14 was the first game under the new branding and kicked off a new era for the franchise. Since then, the brand’s video games have had many up and downs. The three games after 2K14 were critically and commercially triumphant, but the series fell in quality, leading to the universal disaster that was WWE 2K20.

But, overall, the series is in a good place, as the numbers in this report suggest. The latest game in the franchise is out now on PlayStation 4, PlayStation 5, PC, Xbox One, Xbox Series X, and Xbox Series S. With the partnership between WWE and 2K continuing for even longer; the series will probably crack the 100 million mark soon.