page_title: Role-playing video game
section_title: Popularity
hierarchical_section_title: Role-playing video game / Popularity
caption_attribution_description: English: Taken on August 20, 2008 Canon PowerShot S3 IS
context_page_description: A role-playing video game is a video game genre where the player controls the actions of a character immersed in some well-defined world. Many role-playing video games have origins in tabletop role-playing games and use much of the same terminology, settings and game mechanics. Other major similarities with pen-and-paper games include developed story-telling and narrative elements, player character development, complexity, as well as replay value and immersion. The electronic medium removes the necessity for a gamemaster and increases combat resolution speed. RPGs have evolved from simple text-based console-window games into visually rich 3D experiences.
context_section_description: The best-selling RPG series worldwide is Pokémon, which has sold over 300 million units as of November 2017. The second and third best-selling RPG franchises worldwide are Square Enix's Final Fantasy and Dragon Quest series, with over 110 million units and over 64 million units sold as of March 31, 2014, respectively. Pokémon Red, Blue, and Green alone sold approximately 23.64 million copies (10.23 million in Japan, 9.85 million in US, 3.56 million in UK). Nearly all the games in the main Final Fantasy series and all the games in the main Dragon Quest series (as well as many of the spin-off games) have sold over a million copies each, with some games selling more than four million copies. Square Enix's best-selling title is Final Fantasy VII, which has sold over 10 million copies worldwide as of 2010.
  Among the best-selling PC RPGs overall is the massively multiplayer online game World of Warcraft with 11.5 million subscribers as of May 2010. Among single player PC RPGs, Diablo II has sold the largest amount, with the most recently cited number being over 4 million copies as of 2001. However, copies of the Diablo: Battle Chest continued to be sold in retail stores, with the compilation appearing on the NPD Group's top 10 PC games sales, list as recently as 2010. Further, Diablo: Battle Chest was the 19th best selling PC game of 2008—a full seven years after the game's initial release; and 11 million users still played Diablo II and StarCraft over Battle.net in 2010. As a franchise, the Diablo series has sold over 20 million copies, not including Diablo III which was released for Windows and OS X in 2012.
  The Dragon Quest series was awarded with six world records in the 2008 Gamer's Edition of the Guinness Book of World Records, including "Best Selling Role Playing Game on the Super Famicom", "Fastest Selling Game in Japan", and "First Video Game Series to Inspire a Ballet". Likewise, the Pokémon series received eight records, including "Most Successful RPG Series of All Time". Diablo II was recognized in the 2000 standard edition of the Guinness Book of World Records for being the fastest selling computer game ever sold, with more than 1 million units sold in the first two weeks of availability; though this number has been surpassed several times since. A number of RPGs are also being exhibited in the Barbican Art Gallery's "Game On" exhibition (starting in 2002) and the Smithsonian's "The Art of Video Games" exhibit (starting in 2012); and video game developers are now finally able to apply for grants from the US National Endowment of the Arts.
  According to Metacritic, as of May 2011, the highest-rated video game by reviewers is the Xbox 360 version of Mass Effect 2, with an average metascore of 96 out of 100. According to GameRankings, the four top-rated video game RPGs, as of May 2010, are Mass Effect 2 with an average rating of 95.70% for the Xbox 360 version and 94.24% for the PC version; Fallout 3: Game of the Year Edition with an average rating of 95.40% for the PlayStation 3 version; Chrono Trigger with an average rating of 95.10%; and Star Wars: Knights of the Old Republic with an average rating of 94.18% for the Xbox version. Sales numbers for these six aforementioned titles are 10 million units sold worldwide for Final Fantasy VII as of May 2010; 161,161 units of Xenoblade Chronicles sold in Japan as of December 2010; 1.6 million units sold worldwide for Mass Effect 2 as of March 2010, just three months after release; 4.7 million units for Fallout 3 on all three platforms as of November 2008, also only a few months after publication; 3 million units for both the Xbox and PC versions of Star Wars: Knights of the Old Republic as of November 2004; and more than 2.65 million units for the SNES and PlayStation versions of Chrono Trigger as of March 2003, along with 790,000 copies for the Nintendo DS version as of March 31, 2009. Among these titles, none were PC-exclusives, three were North American multi-platform titles released for consoles like the Xbox and Xbox 360, and three were Japanese titles released for co
caption: Bethesda Softworks' Fallout 3 booth at the Games Convention 2008
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