Kingdom Hearts breaks 10m

Franchise flexes large sales.

News by Robert Purchese Associate Editor

Updated on 7 Feb 2007

Joining the ranks of super-successful game franchises today is Kingdom Hearts, which boasts more than 10 million units sold across the world.

The series is made up of three games - Kingdom Hearts, released for PS2 in 2002; Kingdom Hearts: Chain of Memories, for GBA in 2005; and the recent Kingdom Hearts II, which launched last year for PS2.

Europe contributed over two million sales to the total figure, with Japan passing three million and the US exceeding five and a half million.

Kingdom Hearts, created by Square Enix, pops a traditional Japanese role-playing game in a blender with Walt Disney characters and produces an action-RPG that's met critical success around the planet. We were thoroughly charmed by the latest release, and you can catch up with our review elsewhere on the site.

"When we first started developing Kingdom Hearts, we never imagined we would pass the 10 million mark so quickly," said series producer Shinji Hashimoto. "We are delighted and extremely grateful for the support from our fans around the globe. We hope to continue to provide games which fulfill your anticipation in the future."

So, well done indeed, but it's still a little off the pace of the all-time giants: the clear leaders being Mario with 193 million, and Pokémon with 155 million. Read on for a full top-20 list of the biggest franchises in gaming history courtesy of The Independent.