Top 20 Best Selling PC Games In 2008

Myrthos

Myrthos

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According to NPD the top 20 best selling PC games in the US for 2008 (without online sales) are:
1. World of Warcraft: Wrath of the Lich King
2. Spore
3. World of Warcraft: Battle Chest
4. Age of Conan: Hyborian Adventures
5. Warhammer Online: Age Of Reckoning
6. Call Of Duty 4: Modern Warfare
7. The Sims 2 Double Deluxe
8. World Of Warcraft: Wrath of the Lich King Collector's Ed
9. Fallout 3
10. World Of Warcraft: The Burning Crusade
11. Call Of Duty: World At War
12. The Sims 2 FreeTime
13. World Of Warcraft
14. Sins Of A Solar Empire
15. Warcraft III Battle Chest
16. The Sims 2 Apartment Life
17. Crysis
18. Left 4 Dead
19. Diablo Battle Chest
20. The Orange Box
More information.
 
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That's a little disheartening that 4 out of the top 5 games are MMOs.
 
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Sadly the NPD numbers become less useful by the year - online digital purchase s are booming, but aren't counted.
 
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do you think theyre really significant enough to make much of a difference? I'd like to see some numbers on that one.
 
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Considering Steam tends to peak out at 1.5 million users online at a time, It's pretty safe to assume those users have purchased at least one game online, and more likely than not it was Left 4 Dead or the Orange Box, both on this chart already.
 
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They estimated it for 2007 and it was in the hundreds of millions - enough to take PC gaming from a decline to an increase. 2008 is definitely even larger.
 
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The industry should really set up a sales chart for online (or combined) sales - it's annoying that this is always up in the air, especially when discussing PC vs console sales.
 
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On the other hand, many if not most MMO's today offer online downloads of their clients and to many people it makes more sense to download an online game. So if anything else, the MMO's would probably still be on top of that list. ;)
 
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Yes you are right of course. I should have said western market.

On the other hand in china single player PC market is almost none-excisting. You are considered stupid in China if you pay for something that you could get "free".
 
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Valve doesn't really release sales figures. So its difficult to know how much they are selling.

But how many people here buy games off steam. I must have bought 10 last year. From Left 4 Dead all (44.95) to S.T.A.L.K.E.R (3.95).

Rock Paper Shotgun has an article discussing that discusses the "14%" that PC game sales declined in 2008 when compared with 2007.

http://www.rockpapershotgun.com/2009/01/16/pc-game-sales-the-mysterious-14/

Who knows what is would be like in all the on-line distribution was taken into account?
 
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By now, I buy probably more than 80% of my games online, AAA games mostly through steam. Now, I am technophile and probably rather on the early adopter side, but still, I would assume that by now the digital sales are very significant, I would certainly think > 10% of non-digital sales. But it's ridiculous that we have to guess. Why is this kept under wraps?
 
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The only reason I don't support Steam is because it would mean supporting the epitome of the mass market mindset. Valve are extremely popular, which I will never understand, so it's like asking a mountain not to stand still.
 
Valve sales figures off-line are amazing. I would think that games like Left 4 Dead and Orange Box sold almost as many on-line as they did off-line?

http://www.bit-tech.net/news/gaming/2008/12/04/valve-releases-half-life-sales-figures/1

Either way I think its going to be a massive year for PC gaming in general. There are huge PC only releases coming (Starcraft 2, Dragon Age, DOW 2) to mention a few. Hopefully get a few more people back on their PC's gaming.
 
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Fallout 3 is the only game, which did not sell because you need a key to play online ?

Maybe sins of a solar empire also?


I think spore is online, did not try it, but I heard you could meet races other players created etc etc if you played it in online mode ?
 
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Buying via Steam is no option for me because I don't play censored games.
 
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Gorath said:
Buying via Steam is no option for me because I don't play censored games.
Click to expand...

Heh, I get less censoring that way thanks to my US steam account (e.g. FO3 - censored in germany).
 
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