Number Crunchers - PC Game Sales for 2007 from NPD

[chizow]

Top 10 Selling PC Games of 2007 from NPD @ FiringSquad
Lots of ho-hum/older titles in there like WoW, Sims, FlightSim etc. CoD4 did very well considering it was out for only 2 months or so before the year-end. What's interesting though is that Activision is claiming its the #1 selling video game of 2007 based on NPD's figures with 7 million+ sold across 3 platforms. Kinda surprising that so many more PS3/360 versions were sold, but it also outsold Halo 3 which reportedly sold 5 million in its first week.

 

[rocadelpunk]

i thought this was gonna be a thread about number munchers the game : (

those must be some pretty bitchin' sims expansion packs haha

 

[InflatableBuddha]

No Orange Box? :Q

 

[KeithTalent]

I wish they did a top 25, it would be more interesting to see what happens after 10, since the top 10 always seems to be dominated by WoW and Sims. :thumbsdown:

KT

 

[chizow]

Originally posted by: rocadelpunk
i thought this was gonna be a thread about number munchers the game : (

those must be some pretty bitchin' sims expansion packs haha

Ya its kinda scary how popular Sims/2 is. Just flies under the radar I guess but its been a huge cash cow for EA over the years.

Notably absent from the NPD charts though are some of the highly regarded titles from 2007 like:

1) Orange Box
2) Crysis
3) BioShock
4) Supreme Commander (came out early, had a long time to rack up sales)
5) Witcher

Probably missing a few, but you get the idea. All games that were highly rated critically with many on these forums purchasing them. I know NPD has some flaws in their sales figures, as I'm pretty sure they don't track online sales and digital distributions, but still its surprising some of those titles didn't break the top 10 with ~350k retail units sold.

 

[raystorm]

Originally posted by: InflatableBuddha
No Orange Box? :Q

I'm sure a ton of Orange Box sales were done on Steam which is why NPD stuff isn't worth a damn. They don't count digital distribution which is getting bigger and bigger each year.

Do they count sales outside the US? PC gaming is much bigger in europe as well (check out sales for Crysis there.. none of that Sims bullshit there from what I read).

 

[chizow]

Originally posted by: raystorm

Originally posted by: InflatableBuddha
No Orange Box? :Q

I'm sure a ton of Orange Box sales were done on Steam which is why NPD stuff isn't worth a damn. They don't count digital distribution which is getting bigger and bigger each year.

Do they count sales outside the US? PC gaming is much bigger in europe as well (check out sales for Crysis there.. none of that Sims bullshit there from what I read).

It does look like its domestic US retail sales only. Basing this on a cross-reference of Wiki about Burning Crusade, as that number did look a bit odd and still seems a bit off @2.25 million. Wiki says TBC sold 1.9 mill in the US in its first month in January 07, which seems to jive with reports at the time.

But ya I'd be curious as to how many actually purchase via digital distribution, as many companies do offer that alternative now. Personally I don't for a lot of reasons, I like having a hardcopy backup, I like having a physical manual even though I don't read it, digital download keys seem to have more problems, and I typically get a better price finding retail deals.

 

[Krakn3Dfx]

Originally posted by: rocadelpunk
i thought this was gonna be a thread about number munchers the game : (

those must be some pretty bitchin' sims expansion packs haha

EA could release an Sims expansion with party hats for dogs, and they would still sell a million. It's insane how people eat that stuff up.

 

[Krakn3Dfx]

Originally posted by: chizow

Originally posted by: rocadelpunk
i thought this was gonna be a thread about number munchers the game : (

those must be some pretty bitchin' sims expansion packs haha

Ya its kinda scary how popular Sims/2 is. Just flies under the radar I guess but its been a huge cash cow for EA over the years.

Notably absent from the NPD charts though are some of the highly regarded titles from 2007 like:

1) Orange Box
2) Crysis
3) BioShock
4) Supreme Commander (came out early, had a long time to rack up sales)
5) Witcher

Probably missing a few, but you get the idea. All games that were highly rated critically with many on these forums purchasing them. I know NPD has some flaws in their sales figures, as I'm pretty sure they don't track online sales and digital distributions, but still its surprising some of those titles didn't break the top 10 with ~350k retail units sold.

I bought Orange Box, Bioshock, and CoD4 on Steam, and I know at least a dozen other people who did as well.

NPDs are useless in the electronic download age.

 

[ja1484]

<--- Steam lover as well.

NPD's days of legitimacy are quickly waning, unless they start to grab info about digital delivery solutions.

 

[QueBert]

Originally posted by: Krakn3Dfx

Originally posted by: rocadelpunk
i thought this was gonna be a thread about number munchers the game : (

those must be some pretty bitchin' sims expansion packs haha

EA could release an Sims expansion with party hats for dogs, and they would still sell a million. It's insane how people eat that stuff up.

GF use to play Sims and most of the expansions all the time. I never understood the facination but she played them probably 100x more than everything I've ever played together with maybe the exception of CS/CS:S.

she spent hundreds of dollars on Sims + expansions but she's gotten thousands of hours of play out of it. For whatever reason she liked it so much I dunno, but she sure got her monies worth.

Now she spends 5 hours a day on LOTR lol.

 

[Skott]

My daughter plays the Sims. She loves it for its mindless fun. People around AT seem to be a bit above Sims so you dont see many people here talking about it. Go to the Sims forums though and you'll see tons of talk about it.

 

[Skunkwourk]

Congrats for C&C3. I bought it.

 

[EvilComputer92]

Yay for CNC3. Best game on that list.

 

[chizow]

Originally posted by: QueBert
Now she spends 5 hours a day on LOTR lol.

Not to rehash ground covered in that EAX thread, but your GF is in for a treat if she's a LOTRO fan. The EAX fixes they put in for Book 12 are simply amazing, if you guys can't tell the difference with an X-Fi after hearing that I give up. The update isn't on the live servers yet, but you can check them out with the Roheryn test server client. Its the first "newer" game I have that natively supports OpenAL with EAX5.0. Hoping more game devs follow suit as the difference is jaw dropping.

 

[QueBert]

Originally posted by: chizow

Originally posted by: QueBert
Now she spends 5 hours a day on LOTR lol.

Not to rehash ground covered in that EAX thread, but your GF is in for a treat if she's a LOTRO fan. The EAX fixes they put in for Book 12 are simply amazing, if you guys can't tell the difference with an X-Fi after hearing that I give up. The update isn't on the live servers yet, but you can check them out with the Roheryn test server client. Its the first "newer" game I have that natively supports OpenAL with EAX5.0. Hoping more game devs follow suit as the difference is jaw dropping.

great, I don't want to hear this! She already is carrying on about the graphic improvements on the test server for book 12 she plays on the test server but hasn't commented about better sound. She only has 2.1 but they're decent speakers. Hummm, then again going from on board to X-Fi she's commented she can't notice any difference. I hope she doesn't notice this better sound that'll just be more time spent playing it hehe

 

[Craig234]

I'm a bit surprised to see AoE 3 still racking up that many sales.

I've long rationalized my game buying as 'supporting the developing art of computer games', with hundreds of games sitting unopened yet (WoW has a bad effect on actually playing them). May work for you, too.

 

[Oyeve]

Why wont sims 2 die? Its like Myst years ago. It sucks but still people keep buying it. Like those stupid Deer Hunter games. What are they on now? Deer Hunter 29?

 

[Schadenfroh]

Originally posted by: Oyeve
Like those stupid Deer Hunter games. What are they on now? Deer Hunter 29?

Are those games based on the movie?

 

[KeithTalent]

Originally posted by: Schadenfroh

Originally posted by: Oyeve
Why wont sims 2 die? Its like Myst years ago. It sucks but still people keep buying it. Like those stupid Deer Hunter games. What are they on now? Deer Hunter 29?

Are those games based on the movie?

Oh man that would be sweet.

KT

 

[wanderer27]

Amazing.

Sim City 4 is in the top 10 for sales after what, four years (or is it more)?

Seems like that should be a clue that maybe they need to come out with Sim City 5 (forget the Societies junk).

Of course, with sales like they have there's not really a reason to come out with a new one . . . .