With the school shooting in Newtown, Conn., still on the minds of many Americans, President Barack Obama recently outlined a $10 million plan to study the effects of violent media on our children. Around the same time, a bill was introduced to Congress to address what is often perceived as one of the biggest sources of violence in media — the video game industry.

Some of the top-selling video game franchises are among the most violent. The Grand Theft Auto and Call of Duty franchises have sold well over 100 million copies of their games each. These series feature games rated for adults and include what the Entertainment Ratings Safety Board (ESRB) refers to as “blood and gore” and “intense violence.” Based on the ESRB rating and video game sales figures by industry tracking firm VG Chartz, these are the best-selling violent video game franchises of all time.

Click here to see the seven best-selling violent video games

An analysis of the top-selling video games of all-time shows that recently-released violent games are quickly climbing the charts. New violent games such as Diablo III and Call of Duty: Black Ops 2 have broken short-term sales records. Five of the top 20 video games for global retail sales, based on numbers from VG Chartz, are “mature”-rated games showing blood, gore and intense violence. Most of them have only been released in the past five years. Of the other, nonviolent top-selling video games of all time, many are from more than 15 years ago.

The debate over whether video games have a direct impact on children continues to rage. Some studies appear to show an increase in violent tendencies among adolescents who play violent games compared to those who do not. Others appear to show that games featuring blood and killing actually serve as a release for troubled youth and can prevent them from lashing out in real life.

Whether they have a destructive impact or act as a release, there is little question that games have become increasingly violent. In an interview with 24/7 Wall St., iStrategyLabs CEO Peter Corbett explained that with so many devices competing for our free time, developers have to distinguish themselves with extreme violence. “The game publishing platforms have decided,” Corbett explained “that the best way to break through the clutter is to explode someone’s brain with a shotgun.”

Even if they wanted to, Corbett added, it isn’t in the interest of game developers to slow the escalation of the violence in their games. “It’s an arms race. You can’t back out of an arms race.”

To identify the top-selling violent video game franchises, 24/7 Wall St. reviewed industry analytics group VG Chartz’s list of global retail video game sales. First, we selected the franchises that had a least one game in the top 150 games sold of all time. We then reviewed all franchises with a top-selling game that was rated “Mature” or “Adult only” by the ESRB and was also designated as having “blood and gore” and “intense violence.” Because VG Chartz only counts physical sales, digital downloads for some games were considered based on company reports. Diablo III has sold at least 12 million copies alone, according to Activision, which makes the list. The franchises are listed in order of total global sales.

These are the seven best-selling violent video games.

7. Fallout
> Franchise sales: 15 million
> Top-selling game: Fallout 3
> Year first game released: 1996
> Current publisher: Bethesda Softworks

The Fallout series is a role-playing games in which gamers fight for survival in a post-apocalyptic future. In giving Fallout 3 — the top-selling game in the series — its “Mature” rating, the ESRB cited “realistic dismemberment,” the use of drugs and even a scene where “players enter a black-and-white virtual reality simulation in which they use a kitchen knife to kill household members and pets.” The ESRB cited similar reasons in giving Fallout: New Vegas — the latest installment in the series — the same rating, also adding “in one sequence, players can choose to activate a collar bomb around a slave-woman’s neck, resulting in depictions of blood and gore.”

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6. Diablo
> Franchise sales: 16 million
> Top-selling game: Diablo III
> Year first game released: 1996
> Current publisher: Activision

The Diablo series, a role-playing game in which a character fights evil in the form of various gruesome monsters, has been developed by Blizzard, now part of Activision Blizzard, Inc., since 1996. According to the company’s SEC filings, Diablo III sold 12 million copies across the globe from May 2012 through the end of the year and was a record for PC game sales. Every single game in the series has been rated “Mature” for blood, gore, and violence. In giving this rating to Diablo III, the ESRB cited that “battles are accompanied by slashing and flesh-impact sounds, screams of pain, and frequent blood-splatter effects … some levels depict burning corpses and dead villagers amid large pools of blood.” In 2009, then-game director Jay Wilson told Wired he allowed his nine-year-old daughter to play Diablo games, but only because of his role in its development.

5. Gears of War
> Franchise sales: 18 million
> Top-selling game: Gears of War 2
> Year first game released: 2006
> Current publisher: Microsoft Game Studios

Gears of War is a post-apocalyptic shooter franchise produced by Microsoft Game Studios for the Xbox 360. The series is exceptionally violent, with users creatively killing and maiming both insect-like and humanoid enemies. In 2010, Cliff Bleszinski, the series’ design director, discussed Gears of War with BBC. In the interview he defended the game as slapstick, stating that “when we first see this muscular space marine beating down a lizard man and heads explode with water melon guts spewing out of them, you’re morally inclined to smile and giggle rather than be revolted.” The series’ newest title, Gears of War: Judgement is slated to be released later in March.

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4. The Elder Scrolls
> Franchise sales: 24 million
> Top-selling game: Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim
> Year first game released: 1992
> Current publisher: Bethesda Softworks

The Elder Scrolls titles, which allow players to openly explore massive medieval-style fantasy worlds, have together sold over 24 million physical copies, according to VGChartz data. The series’ most recent title, The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim, was released in 2011 and has sold more than 14 million units. It also received wide acclaim, including winning “ultimate game of the year” last October at the 30th Gamesmaster Golden Joystick Awards — the nation’s longest running video game awards. Although popular, the series has also been rated “Mature” by ESRB, which highlighted melee-style combat, blood splatter and slow-motion decapitations. Only the past two major releases in the series, The Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion and The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim, have received “Mature” ratings. These two titles accounted for more than 21 million units sold.

3. Resident Evil
> Franchise sales: 54 million
> Top-selling game: Resident Evil 5
> Year first game released: 1996
> Current publisher: Capcom

The first title in the Resident Evil series, in which the player fights to survive against zombie-like enemies, was released for the PlayStation and PC in 1996. The series is one of the longest-running consistently violent video games in the industry. In giving a “Mature” rating to Resident Evil 5, the ESRB cited the use of guns and rifles in killing humanoid characters, as well as mutilation and decapitation. This did not prevent 2009’s Resident Evil 5 from selling more than 8 million retail copies and being one of the 100 best-selling video games of all time. The franchise has also included five films that have collectively grossed hundreds of millions of dollars.

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2. Grand Theft Auto
> Franchise sales: 108 million
> Top-selling game: Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas
> Year first game released: 1997
> Current publisher: Take-Two Interactive

Grand Theft Auto is one of the top-selling videogame series in history. It is also one of the most violent ones. Since 1997, when the first game in the series was released for the Sony PlayStation, the Grand Theft Auto franchise has sold more than 100 million copies. The series has frequently been targeted by critics for the level of violence in its games, which allows the user to assault people at will using guns, blunt objects, and explosives. Controversy surrounded the series’ top-selling game, Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas, when it was discovered that highly-sexual content was hidden within the game. But the series remains especially popular, and the fall release of Grand Theft Auto V is highly anticipated by many gamers.

1. Call of Duty
> Franchise sales: 161 million
> Top-selling game: Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 3
> Year first game released: 2003
> Current publisher: Activision

Call of Duty, a first-person military shooter — when the player experiences the action through the eyes of the protagonist — is one of the best-selling video game franchises of all time, with more than 160 million physical copies sold. In each of the previous four years, the series has released a game that has sold over 20 million copies — with Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 3, released in 2011, approaching 30 million. A scene from the game in which a child is killed by an explosion was leaked caused a great deal of controversy. The franchise also uses major celebrities as endorsers. Kobe Bryant and Jimmy Kimmel appeared in the 2010 commercial for Call of Duty: Black Ops, while Robert Downey Jr. was featured in the commercial for Call of Duty: Black Ops 2.

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