Skyrim Sold Over 20 Million Copies

On Friday I wrote about the press release Bethesda issued, revealing the voice cast of the Elder Scrolls Online. If you didn’t get a chance to read the article you can do so here.

Buried in the press release was an interesting tidbit that may have gone unnoticed. Towards the end of the release, Bethesda declares that Skyrim sold over 20 million copies:

As the sequel to the 2002 Role-Playing Game of the Year, The Elder Scrolls III: Morrowind®, and the 2006 Game of the Year, The Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion®, Skyrim earned hundreds of ‘Game of the Year’ awards and sold over 20 million copies.

Skyrim Sold How Many Copies?

When I think about it, 20 million is an astronomical number, and it’s hard to wrap my brain around it. I personally purchased 4 copies of the game (Skyrim Xbox 360, Skyrim PC, Skyrim Legendary, and the Skyrim Anthology). But what about the other 19,999,996 copies?

In an effort to better grasp how many copies Skyrim sold, I offer the following illustrations:

1. If you had 20 million dollars, you could buy 40,000 Xbox One consoles. With 40,000 consoles, not only could you play the award wining Titanfall game when it comes out, but you could gift a next generation machine to every man, woman, and child in Ormond Beach, Florida with a few thousand left over for spares (you know, in case some of the Xbox One’s start smoking).
2. If you walked 20 million miles, you could leg it to the moon and back almost 40 times — definitely more than one small step for man…
3. If you had 20 million tickets for seats at Lambeau Field, you could fill the stadium 274 times. This is the equivalent of watching the Green Bay Packers play 34 years worth of home games before the greatest fans in the world (yes, I’m from Wisconsin).

Final Thoughts

No matter how you look at it, 20 million is a huge number, and the fact that Skyrim sold this many copies is a testament to how brilliant the game is. If you’re a reader of the Skyrim Fansite you already know this, and I’m convinced that Skyrim will go down in history as one of the video games that defined a generation. So congratulations to Bethesda for such an amazing feat! I can’t wait to see what The Elder Scrolls VI will do 🙂