Article

Nintendo (Zelda, Link); The Pokémon Company International (Pikachu, Evee); Moviestore Collection Ltd/Alamy Stock Photo (Sonic); Keith Homan/Alamy Stock Photo (Mario Characters); M-Studio/Alamy Stock Vector (Pac Man); Shutterstock.com (All Other Images)

Video Games Galore!

Check out awesome number facts about some of the world's most popular games.

By Jess McKenna-Ratjen

From the December 2025/January 2026 Issue

Key Focus Area: Measurement and Data,

Othe Focus Areas: Coding & Computer Science

Standards

The Story
Resources

Video Games Then and Now

Watch a video about the history of video games.

Flying a car, shooting a fireball, building an island—in video games, anything is possible! Check out these awesome number facts about some of the world’s most popular games.

Top 5 Nintendo Switch Best-Sellers

These video games for the Nintendo Switch have sold the most copies worldwide as of March 2025.

What do you notice about the release date of these games? How might that affect the data?

Who Plays Video Games?

A 2023 survey asked 5,000 video game players about their hobby. Here’s a breakdown of their ages.

Source: Statista

5-10 years old: 10%

11-26 years old: 28%

27-42 years old: 25%

43-58 years old: 18%

59-77 years old: 18%

78-90 years old: 1%

In which age group are people most likely to play video games? Why do you think that is?

Quick Sellers!

These five video games are some of the fastest-selling hits of all time!

Nintendo

Animal Crossing:
New Horizons
2020

11.7 million copies sold in 11 days

Insomniac Games

Marvel’s Spider-Man 2
2022

2.5 million copies sold in 1 day

Shutterstock.com

Pokémon Scarlet/Violet
2022

10 million copies sold in 3 days

Shutterstock.com

The Legend of Zelda:
Tears of the Kingdom
2023

10 million copies sold in 3 days

Warner Bros. Games

Hogwarts Legacy
2023

12 million copies sold in 13 days

Can you determine which video game sold the fastest? Explain.

video (1)

Activities (3)

Answer Key (1)

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