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Who's In The Money?

Posted on Wednesday, January 18 @ 17:45:20 Eastern by dUKE

The list of best selling games of 2005 was just released, and there are certainly a couple of surprises in there. Bet you can't guess them all before you click on the title...

Yesterday the NPD Group (yes, I know you've never heard of them, but they're the people who measure stuff like this) dropped one of their yearly industry-busting bombs. PC gaming took yet another hit in 2005, depending on how you count it.

If you look at in-store sales, they fell 19% in 2005. Ouch. But that's not the whole story. Gamers are increasingly downloading and virtually buying their games through a number of different channels, such as the Steam virus.

Also the massed forces of geekdom are increasingly playing those tantalizingly addictive massively multiplayer games, playing them longer than ever before, and spending their game dollars on monthly subscriptions. So next year they're going to change the whole way they add up the figures to try and more accurately reflect the evolution of PC gaming. Future, we salute you!

Where was I? Oh yeah, the big winners in 2005 are...


        Annual 2005 Top 10 PC Game Titles, Ranked by Units Sold

                                                         Average Price
           Title                Publisher        Intro.   Jan-Dec 2005
                                                 Date

World Of Warcraft           Vivendi Universal    Nov-04           $47
The Sims 2: University      Electronic Arts      Feb-05           $33
 Expansion Pack                                                   
The Sims 2                  Electronic Arts      Sep-04           $45
Guild Wars                  Ncsoft               Apr-05           $48
Roller Coaster Tycoon 3     Atari                Oct-04           $30
Battlefield 2               Electronic Arts      Jun-05           $48
The Sims 2 Nightlife        Electronic Arts      Sep-05           $32
 Expansion Pack                                                   
MS Age Of Empires III       Microsoft            Oct-05           $47
The Sims Deluxe             Electronic Arts      Sep-02           $19
Call Of Duty 2              Activision           Oct-05           $46

Blizzard continues to reap their just rewards, and will soon have to annouce that they are the world's wealthiest company. The Sims have clearly become absorbed into the Borg. There's nothing we can do. Resistance is futile. Guild Wars is a nice surprise, while Roller Coaster Tycoon 3 is a weird surprise. Battlefield 2 is no surprise whatsoever. Age of Empires III and Call of Duty 2? We coupld have predicted that. Lots of sequels packing the chart last year, that's also par for the course.

One interesting thing I notice is that not even one of the top selling games of 2005 is rated "M" for mature. Anti-video game politicians take note: it's not about the violence, it's about the games. This country has some real problems you know, not just ones that you made up. Why don't you get on that? Once you're done with that, we'll help you get that epic armor set.