Market research firm NPD has published a list of the USA’s top 20 selling PC games in February.
The List
1. World Of Warcraft: Wrath of the Lich King (Blizzard) – An active subscriber base of over 10million people definitely helps.
2. The Sims 2 Double Deluxe(EA/Maxis): No comment.
3. Warhammer 40K: Dawn of War II (Relic): An impressive achievement considering that the game was launched towards the end of the month.
4. World of Warcraft: Battle Chest (Blizzard): Proof that this pony still has legs.
5. F.E.A.R. 2: Project Origin (Monolith): Received mixed reviews, check out ours here.
6. Spore (EA Maxis): Still selling strong despite receiving a rather disappointed reception and being the most downloaded (illegally) PC game of 2008.
7. World of Warcraft (Blizzard)
8. The Sims Apartment Life (EA/Maxis)
9. Fallout 3 (Bethesda): Good to see this stand out 2008 release still selling well. Review here.
10. WoW: The Burning Crusade (Blizzard): At this stage, we are pretty sure that Blizzard has more money than most countries.
11. Call of Duty: World at War (Treyarch): Received mixed reviews, but once again proving the power of a branded franchise. Review here.
12. Command and Conquer: Red Alert 3 (EA LA): See above comment
13. Left 4 Dead (Valve): Because who doesn’t like killing zombies with their friends, right?
14. The Sims 2 Deluxe (EA/Maxis): When will it end?
15. Civilization IV (Fireaxis)
16. The Sims 2 Mansion & Garden Stuff (EA Maxis): Who says girls don’t play games?
17. StarCraft Battle Chest (Blizzard): See comment 10.
18. Spore Creepy & Cute Parts pack (EA Maxis)
19. Diablo Battle Chest (Blizzard)
20. The Sims 2 Pets (EA Maxis)
There are a few definite trends to be noticed in this sales chart.
Firstly, 14 out of the 20 titles are sequels or add-ons. This cements the notion that if you are a games developer and you want to make money, you really need to stick to a franchise that is already established. The only original intellectual property released in the past year to make this list is Left 4 Dead and Spore. But then Valve could sell stale crayons and people would queue up, and Spore manages to appeal to a similar demographic as the Sims franchise.
We are a little bit surprised at a few exclusions, such as Dead Space, Far Cry 2 and Mirror’s Edge.
Secondly, it is clear that there are a select few games developers that are making a lot of money; Namely Blizzard and EAMaxis. These two developers combined account for 13 out of the US’s 20 top selling PC games in February. Despite the Sims Franchise being the cash cow that it is, EA still managed to lose $641million is its last financial quarter.
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