The Elder Scrolls 5: Skyrim has just reached a new sales record 12 years after it was first released. With Skryim having been ported to multiple platforms over the years, it's no wonder that the milestones and achievements it has attained continue to grow. The award-winning title was first released in 2011 to critical acclaim for the Xbox 360, PlayStation 3, and PC.
The famed action role-playing game has been one of the prime examples of how games in the genre should be made. Skyrim's open-world design is considered to be one of the best in gaming's history. This is partly the reason why a 12-year-old title continues to have successful sales. There are still a lot more secrets to uncover from the vast regions and locations where players still spend time in-game.
During an interview with Bethesda's Todd Howard regarding Starfield, he mentioned Skyrim's sales record achievement in passing. At the 13-minute mark, Howard mentioned that the game had officially sold 60 million copies in its 12-year run. With this information in mind, GamesRadar+ further confirmed that Skyrim is currently officially the seventh best-selling game of all time, ranking just below Tetris, Minecraft, Mario Kart 8, and Grand Theft Auto 5, to name a few.
In more cases than one, it seems that many consider Skyrim to be one of the best games of the decade. Its legacy is unmatched and has served as a blueprint for some of the best games to come out after it. As Skyrim is currently available on eight platforms spanning three generations of gaming, there is a case to be made that sales may continue to soar even further, perhaps even when Elder Scrolls 6 becomes available in the future.
As it stands, many players enjoy returning to the land of Skyrim due to the memorable gameplay it provides. Some even replay and repurchase the game just to provide a new experience. Quality-of-life improvements, interesting mods, and even VR usage are just some of the features that Skyrim has developed as it was released on new generations of consoles.
With new technology continuing to develop, it's not going to be much of a surprise if the game continues to rise on sales charts. Bethesda enjoys the fanfare that the title continues to garner, and the team enjoys experimenting with the IP as well. Such is the case with the Amazon Alexa version which was more of an Easter egg than an official port. Still, the title continues to be one of the better-selling IPs of Bethesda, and as expected, the company will continue to celebrate its success by providing gamers with more ways to experience Skyrim.
The Elder Scrolls 5: Skyrim - Anniversary Edition is out now for PC, PS4, PS5, Switch, Xbox One, and Xbox Series X/S.
