Minecraft overthrows Super Mario Bros; it's now the second best selling game of all time

Finally, a game has come to overthrow Nintendo’s stranglehold on the list of highest selling games of all time. Almost. Minecraft has been growing at a rapid pace since its release in 2011 and as of today, sales stand at a staggering 54 million.Even that wasn’t enough to dethrone Nintendo’s Wii Sports (at 82 million) however. But at long last we have a game that’s successfully dethroned Super Mario Bros. from second place. The top 10 list is almost exclusively comprised of Nintendo titles, with only GTA V and Modern Warfare 2, and now Minecraft managing to force their way in.Super Mario Bros. is a timeless classic in its own right and it's testament to the popularity of the game, even today, that it took over 30 years to push it down 2 notches.Minecraft does only take the second spot because all Minecraft variants are included. This means that the relatively crippled Minecraft: Pocket Edition, as well as the Xbox and PS4 editions, also add to the bottom line. That said, the Pocket Edition's contribution is quite significant at 21 million units sold.Nintendo has been struggling off-late. Their consoles aren’t selling anywhere near as well as their rivals’ offerings and even their games are only coming out sporadically now. They’ve even started offering mobile games of their own, something that Nintendo said they’d never do.In the meanwhile, Minecraft has seen a rapid increase in sales since their launch on all the major gaming platforms. That and the lively modding community built around the game have contributed to its tremendous popularity.