NPD's 2007 PC Games Sales Numbers

[Ludoc]

Gamasutra (http://www.gamasutra.com/php-bin/news_index.php?story=17110) has posted the NPD's list of Top Ten selling PC games for 2007:

1. World Of Warcraft: The Burning Crusade (Vivendi) - 2.25 million
2. World Of Warcraft (Vivendi) - 914,000
3. The Sims 2: Seasons Expansion Pack (Electronic Arts) - 433,000
4. Call Of Duty 4: Modern Warfare (Activision) - 383,000
5. Command & Conquer 3: Tiberium Wars (Electronic Arts) - 343,000
6. Sim City 4 Deluxe (Electronic Arts) - 284,000
7. The Sims 2 (Electronic Arts) - 281,000
8. The Sims 2: Bon Voyage Expansion Pack (Electronic Arts) - 271,000
9. Age Of Empires III (Microsoft) - 259,000
10. The Sims 2: Pets Expansion Pack (Electronic Arts) - 236,000

Of particular note is the fact that:


Computer retail game sales in the United States totaled $910.7 million, or 36.4 million units, a decrease over last year's results, when PC games sold in a retail setting saw revenue of $970 million.

The NPD group does not track digital downloads. The rise of which may easily explain the downturn in the sales figures for 2007. It may also explain why Valve's Orange Box does not appear on the list.

If we look back to to the console sales figures from 2007 (http://gamasutra.com/php-bin/news_index.php?story=17006) we can compare the PC numbers to those of the consoles.

The industry, as a whole sold 17.94 billion dollars in brick and mortar stores with 0.91 billion of that coming from PCs. That works out to about 5% of sales for last year.

The only game appearing on both lists was Call of Duty 4. It sold just over 3 million copies for the Xbox 360 versus 383,000 copies for PC.

So, if you want to make money with a PC game you can do one of for things:
1. Become like Blizzard and laugh it up as you collect recurring fees.
2. Become like Valve and give retailers physical retailers a big "F U."
3. Become like EA and publish as many different versions of Sims games as possible.
4. Port your concept to a console.

[The Iron Weasel]

Hmm, I wonder how many people pirated Call Of Duty 4? Infinity Ward seems to think the number is extremely high.

[Grey]

Good to see such numbers and games. Maybe now they'll learn that releasing 200000000000 games in december wont help at all.

[Vandenh]

Piracy in action.

Seriously.

[Roc Ingersol]

Hmm, I wonder how many people pirated Call Of Duty 4? Infinity Ward seems to think the number is extremely high.It's worth noting that they were specifically noting the percentage of pirated copies on the PC. If a few hundred thousand legit PC gamers 'went console' between CoD2 and CoD4, the percentage of pirated copies is going to go through the roof. (under the assumption that PC pirates won't switch in similarly large numbers, since console piracy is far more inconvenient.)

[Itchyeyes]

When Activision merged with Blizzard, Blizzard released a statement that World of Warcraft alone brought in an estimated $1 billion/year. This fact alone makes the paltry $911 million NPD numbers complete and utter bunk. Add to that the fact that they're not counting purchases from platforms like STEAM and even Amazon, let alone any other MMO on the market, and the $911 million figure just looks more and more ridiculous.

[Emabulator]

Over at Gamespot (http://www.gamespot.com/pc/action/halflife2episode2ob/news.html?sid=6185089) NPD's Anita Frazier had this to say about digital distribution...

"The PC games sales landscape is changing to one that is increasingly reliant on digital sources of revenue," NPD analyst Anita Frazier told GameSpot. "Our sales reflect the retail climate but there is a lot of gaming sales activity that is generated from digital downloads and subscriptions. I think the PC market continues to be quite healthy and we're continuing to work on how to get our arms around the spending that occurs outside of retail. A number of our [surveys] ask respondents to indicate which platforms they game on, and the results of those questions make it very clear that the PC remains very prevalent, if not dominant, in the total gaming picture."

[bKangy]

If you're in the PC gaming business and you're not Blizzard, if you aren't using Steam at this point you're stupid and deserve to go bankrupt.

[netcraazzy]

This is sad. I know these numbers are only B&M sales but still...50% of the top 10 are Sims games for christ sake!

[Roc Ingersol]

Does the fact that WoW is effectively bigger than the rest of the PC game industry really make the argument you're looking for here?

As is, WoW accounts for 56% of the box sales in the top 10. Toss another $450M in US subscription revenue at that NPD list and IMO things look worse.

Particularly considering that LotRO isn't up there. It launched this past spring, right? That's an awfully well-funded and well-received title to not manage 236k in box sales. I'm sure they're going to make their money over time - but not being on that list puts a rather low upper-limit on subscribers. It calls into question whether WoW's health has any relevance to the rest of PC gaming.

[archon]

Downturn in sales could easily be attributed to rising amounts of (legal) digital distribution. Still, it's interesting to see that outside of World of Warcraft, multiplatform CoD4, and Electronic Arts, the only other top ten PC game is Age of Empires III. Youch.

[Emabulator]

Hmm, I wonder how many people pirated Call Of Duty 4? Infinity Ward seems to think the number is extremely high.CoD4 and Crysis have been raped by the warez kiddies. CoD4 has done well, and continues to do well, on Steam though.

On a side note: After playing the Cyrsis demo a while back I had my first look at EA's digital distribution setup. To put it bluntly... it fucking sucks!

I'm sure most are familiar with steam, which I like, and Stardock is very similar. That's the way to go. Sierra is pretty straight forward, buy it, download, burn a copy of the file. Gamespy's Direct2Drive is much the same way plus you can go back anytime and download it again.

Not EA though, they have to reinvent the wheel. That would be a shiny new square wheel. You have to get their download manager to get the file and play it. Which I can deal with, but here comes the rub. You can only download the file for six months. Want access for two years? That will cost extra. Want a back up copy? The answer to that question is conspicuously missing from their download FAQ. I can take a hint... buy the DVD.

[Phinor]

CoD4 and Crysis have been raped by the warez kiddies. CoD4 has done well, and continues to do well, on Steam though.


Not in Europe. It costs close to $90 in Steam which is absolutely ridiculous.

[Telefrog]

The only reason this list makes me happy is that Hellgate: London doesn't appear on it. What a turd.

[Syl]

I would LOVE to see the steam numbers, but i know that's not really going to happen.

[Karmakin]

Well, part of it is that after building those machines to play those games (Crysis and CoD4), you don't have any money left to actually buy games :p

Actually, it's probably just the WoW factor, more or less. They've probably taken millions of customers out of the PC market, which probably accounts for most of the drop.

[Limech]

Holy crap. PC gaming is dying for real. No exec from a gaming company looking at those numbers would even consider releasing another game on the PC ever.

As for Call of Duty 4, since its strong point is multiplayer, I would have thought less people would pirate it compared to Crysis, which is nowhere to be found in the top 10.

Where are other games like WiC, ETQW and UT3?

I'm surprised Sims games are still popular. I figured that the appeal of it would have worn out by now.

As for WoW, I'm willing to blame it for a great part of the reason why PC gaming is dying. If the money Blizzard is making with WoW was spread to other great PC games, the PC gaming industry would be in better shape.

[Ancalagon]

I actually wonder how much of a negative effect WoW is having on the industry.

I mean, those guys who play WoW constantly likely wont be buying any new games. So their money goes to Blizzard instead of to other companies. I mean, the fact that there are 10 million WoW subscribers means there are 10 million people with fairly decent computers, and probably about 1 million who play WoW and nothing else. Well maybe less than 1 mill, but still a lot.

If they all stopped playing and bought new games, perhaps the sales figures would rise dramatically.

[Shadowmage952]

Interesting numbers. Of course, in 2007, I bought a multitude of PC titles (5-10). Not a single one of them was through a B&M store.

[Mr.Green]

If Steam numbers are that good, why isn't Valve bragging about it?

[sflufan]

If Steam numbers are that good, why isn't Valve bragging about it?

Why should Valve brag about something that could cause competitors to jump-in to the market? They have a virtual monopoly on digitial distribution for PC games so why would they encourage others to muscle-in on the action?

[H.Bogard]

Holy crap. PC gaming is dying for real. No exec from a gaming company looking at those numbers would even consider releasing another game on the PC ever.

As for Call of Duty 4, since its strong point is multiplayer, I would have thought less people would pirate it compared to Crysis, which is nowhere to be found in the top 10.


Quoted for Massive ignorance.
-

I wish Valve would release Steam sales figures for once, that would make things very interesting. STALKER, for example... sold 100k on retail alone. I have no doubt that a shooter targeted for a hardcore market would be more popular on a digital distribution service a la Steam, than retail. The recent announcement of Clear Sky being exclusive to Steam when it comes to online download might hint towards that as well.


Why should Valve brag about something that could cause competitors to jump-in to the market?

I disagree. I think it has more to do with not pissing off the publishers that handle the retail versions of the games.

[Mr.Green]

Why should Valve brag about something that could cause competitors to jump-in to the market? They have a virtual monopoly on digitial distribution for PC games so why would they encourage others to muscle-in on the action?

Well I'm not a specialist but I'd say for the same reason other companies brag about their results? I don't know... to attract partners, please stock-holders, incite more customers to jump on the bandwagon?

Why is the fucking iPod so popular and unstoppable at this point? Riddle me this.

[sflufan]

Well I'm not a specialist but I'd say for the same reason other companies brag about their results? I don't know... to attract partners, please stock-holders, incite more customers to jump on the bandwagon?

Why is the fucking iPod so popular and unstoppable at this point? Riddle me this.

Because Valve is a private company with all stock owned by Gabe Newell, he's the only stockholder that needs to be pleased.

Now, Valve has been getting quite a lot of publishers -- Activision, 2K, THQ, Eidos -- to put their PC titles on Steam. It's possible that Valve releases internal sales figures to those companies that are encouraging enough to incentivize them to put their products on Steam, with the caveat that those are internal Valve documents that are not for public consumption.

[Grey]

Why should Valve brag about something that could cause competitors to jump-in to the market? They have a virtual monopoly on digitial distribution for PC games so why would they encourage others to muscle-in on the action?

There were about 3 or more other plattforms equaly to steam... and they all failed. So they probably dont care much about "competition" in their actual state.

Furthermore steam offers a lot of statistics, theres no obvious reason for me not to publish the amount of sales too.

But I think for 3rd party games it is still up to the respective publisher.

[LilAbner]

Hmm, I wonder how many people pirated Call Of Duty 4? Infinity Ward seems to think the number is extremely high.

I'll bet it's not as high as you think. The average end user doesn't know where or how to pirate stuff beyond music.

BTW, those CoD4 PC vs. console numbers are absolutely stunning. I'm sad there was no Orange Box on either list.

[bjornbarspingvinen]

THe reason PC games sell like crap is because Pc gamers generally are Torrent happy freaks who spend money on GFXcards, storage devices and such instead of games.
PC gamers= Torrent leechers ...it´s how it is, don´t wanna here BS like ; they need a better distibution chain or other BS.
Console gamers = Buy games

[Wraith]

Is there a reason why they aren't tracking online sales and digital downloads? Do these numbers exclude B&M stores' online sales (BestBuy.com, GameStop.com, Walmart.com)?

I still end up buying more games in-store than online, and I don't really do digital downloads yet, but it's a given that these numbers would change drastically if online sales were represented. Don't know if it would improve the PC's numbers relative to consoles, but we'd see much larger numbers, overall.

[sflufan]

Well, in regard to digital downloads, the reason is because those companies -- of which Valve is the major player -- simply don't release that information to NPD. As far as the on-line portion of B&M stores, I don't know if that is included in the NPD figures.

However, Wal-Mart B&M are not included in the NPD numbers either.

[Telefrog]

I'll bet it's not as high as you think. The average end user doesn't know where or how to pirate stuff beyond music.


The average PC user is not the average high-end PC gamer. The crowd you're talking about wouldn't play COD4 for the most part because they don't even have a PC capable of running it.

I would argue that the learning curve to pirate games is less of a climb for people that know how to buy and install a good gfx card, and keep their drivers updated, then it is for people that stick to the Sims 2 or WoW.

[bjornbarspingvinen]

Come on, we all know that PC = Piracy. All the people I know who actually buy their games instead of "try them out" are console gamers. Only games that sell are online checked games where they are forced to buy it to play.

[51|RandoM]

So, if you want to make money with a PC game you can do one of for things:
1. Become like Blizzard and laugh it up as you collect recurring fees.
2. Become like Valve and give retailers physical retailers a big "F U."
3. Become like EA and publish as many different versions of Sims games as possible.
4. Port your concept to a console.

Or you can avoid gross generalizations and come to the realization that just because a company doesn't have a top 10 selling title does not mean they are not making money...

[Wraith]

However, Wal-Mart B&M are not included in the NPD numbers either.Well that makes even less sense. :confused:

[roboninja]

Interesting numbers. Of course, in 2007, I bought a multitude of PC titles (5-10). Not a single one of them was through a B&M store.

Exactly. While these numbers allow console gamers to shout "PC gaming is dead, this makes me feel validated for some reason", the fact of the matter is most PC gamers do not buy their games from B&M stores, and that is all the NPD tracks. Piracy, while a problem, is no more of one now that it has been for years. The PC gaming market has survived for over 30 years, and piracy has always been around. Hell, I had hundreds of pirated games on my C64.

PC gaming numbers from the NPD are next to useless, because they do not track where PC gamers actually buy their games. Rather simple, actually.

[Vanthar]

PC gamers have access to the internet. They do not need to goto a store to purchase their games anymore. They either download them off of Steam or off of a torrent. NPD's data is probably for the minority of PC gamers.

[Baron Samedi]

I actually wonder how much of a negative effect WoW is having on the industry.

I mean, those guys who play WoW constantly likely wont be buying any new games. So their money goes to Blizzard instead of to other companies. I mean, the fact that there are 10 million WoW subscribers means there are 10 million people with fairly decent computers, and probably about 1 million who play WoW and nothing else. Well maybe less than 1 mill, but still a lot.

If they all stopped playing and bought new games, perhaps the sales figures would rise dramatically.

Great point.

Do we have download data for Steam? Or is Valve tight-lipped about their little monopoly?

[bjornbarspingvinen]

Exactly. While these numbers allow console gamers to shout "PC gaming is dead, this makes me feel validated for some reason", the fact of the matter is most PC gamers do not buy their games from B&M stores, and that is all the NPD tracks. Piracy, while a problem, is no more of one now that it has been for years. The PC gaming market has survived for over 30 years, and piracy has always been around. Hell, I had hundreds of pirated games on my C64.

PC gaming numbers from the NPD are next to useless, because they do not track where PC gamers actually buy their games. Rather simple, actually.

THe difference is that Console market share is growing and PC sales are in decline, and development costs are getting bigger and bigger. It will never die because it´s a evolving platform, but it sure will get overshadowed by the consoles in focus.

There is no doubt in my mind that PC gamers are alot worse when it comes to piracy. I play both, but I sure see alot more leechers when it comes to pc gamers.

[Karmakin]

Come on, we all know that PC = Piracy. All the people I know who actually buy their games instead of "try them out" are console gamers. Only games that sell are online checked games where they are forced to buy it to play.

Not all console gamers who just want to try out a game go out and buy it. Most don't. Most rent. An option which by and large is not possible with PC gaming.

[sflufan]

Great point.

Do we have download data for Steam? Or is Valve tight-lipped about their little monopoly?

Valve does not release any sales/revenue data related to Steam.

[H.Bogard]

THe reason PC games sell like crap is because Pc gamers generally are Torrent happy freaks who spend money on GFXcards, storage devices and such instead of games.
PC gamers= Torrent leechers ...it´s how it is, don´t wanna here BS like ; they need a better distibution chain or other BS.
Console gamers = Buy games

I'll assume that the folks here didn't respond to this because you're on everybody's ignore list, given the crap you spew?

[roboninja]

I'll assume that the folks here didn't respond to this because you're on everybody's ignore list, given the crap you spew?

I am not a fan of ignore lists, I just do it manually :D

[Beelzebud]

Let's see, in 2007 I bought:

Bioshock
Battlefield 2142
Orange Box
Burning Crusade
UT3
Stalker
The Witcher

The only one I bought in a store was UT3. The rest were bought from online distribution.

Everyone I know that has Orange Box bought it off of Steam.

The idea that only console gamers buy games, and PC gamers just pirate theirs is just a lame generalization. Of course consoles sell better. The machines are cheaper. There are more people out there with a console, than with PC's that can play modern games.

[Roc Ingersol]

Ya know, everyone talks about the negative effect of massmogs. Everyone's got the anecdotal evidence about buddies who used to buy lots of games, but now just play Everquest/WoW/etc.

But if there were a tangible effect, wouldn't we have seen actual data indicating that by now?
2002 revenue was up slightly on lower unit sales (http://www.gamespot.com/pc/strategy/simsvacation/news.html?sid=2901484&mode=all) due to a price hike.
2003 revenue was down 2.7% (http://www.npd.com/press/releases/press_040126a.htm).
2004 revenue was down 1% (http://retailindustry.about.com/od/seg_toys/a/bl_npd012703.htm).
2005 revenue was down 14% (http://www.gamasutra.com/php-bin/news_index.php?story=7832) despite WoW's launch late in the year.

It seems to me that, if anything, WoW is propping PC game sales up.

[H.Bogard]

Let's see, in 2007 I bought:

Bioshock
Battlefield 2142
Orange Box
Burning Crusade
UT3
Stalker
The Witcher

The only one I bought in a store was UT3. The rest were bought from online distribution.

Everyone I know that has Orange Box bought it off of Steam.

The idea that only console gamers buy games, and PC gamers just pirate theirs is just a lame generalization. Of course consoles sell better. The machines are cheaper. There are more people out there with a console, than with PC's that can play modern games.

The reason for your last bit, Beelze, is the misrepresentation and lack of information about computers in people. It is always automatically assumed that you need a $1500 machine to play Crysis or COD4 on the PC. There's a Crysis benchmark thread in the PC forum where I showed my results running on a (modest, I know... but still good enough) 1024x768 2xAA - high details going butter smooth on a $600 machine.

People don't know about computers, so they buy shitty Dells with integrated VGA's. :mad: Either that or they just don't like settling for anything below 1900 resolutions.

[UglyPimp]

I buy all my games on Steam, so count out the 5 or so games I acquired for pc this year :I

[51|RandoM]

Browsing a popular torrent site it looks like Wii piracy will surpass PC piracy this year.

PC piracy must be dying.

[Beelzebud]

The reason for your last bit, Beelze, is the misrepresentation and lack of information about computers in people. It is always automatically assumed that you need a $1500 machine to play Crysis or COD4 on the PC. There's a Crysis benchmark thread in the PC forum where I showed my results running on a (modest, I know... but still good enough) 1024x768 2xAA - high details going butter smooth on a $600 machine.

People don't know about computers, so they buy shitty Dells with integrated VGA's. :mad: Either that or they just don't like settling for anything below 1900 resolutions.

Oh I agree. I recently helped a WoW buddy upgrade a machine. For 600 dollars he ended up with a Core2Duo, 2gb Ram, and a Geforce 8800.

He was a bit stunned at how kick ass his upgrade was.

[roboninja]

Browsing a popular torrent site it looks like Wii piracy will surpass PC piracy this year.

PC piracy must be dying.

Well played, sir.

[H.Bogard]

Browsing a popular torrent site it looks like Wii piracy will surpass PC piracy this year.

PC piracy must be dying.

http://img85.imageshack.us/img85/1207/achievementks2.jpg

[Zanzibar]

When Activision merged with Blizzard, Blizzard released a statement that World of Warcraft alone brought in an estimated $1 billion/year. This fact alone makes the paltry $911 million NPD numbers complete and utter bunk. Add to that the fact that they're not counting purchases from platforms like STEAM and even Amazon, let alone any other MMO on the market, and the $911 million figure just looks more and more ridiculous.

I...um...

You know that NPD doesn't track the monthly fees, right? NPD measures retail sales.

[Paranoia]

No wonder game developers are going console crazy. PC number is pathetic. The worst thing is The Sims completely dominate the chart. Sad!

[TrackZero]

So, if you want to make money with a PC game you can do one of for things:
1. Become like Blizzard and laugh it up as you collect recurring fees.
2. Become like Valve and give retailers physical retailers a big "F U."
3. Become like EA and publish as many different versions of Sims games as possible.
4. Port your concept to a console.

You forgot option #5:

5. Work with Valve and/or Gametap to distribute your game through online channels.

[H.Bogard]

You forgot option #5:

5. Work with Valve and/or Gametap to distribute your game through online channels.

That didn't work out for Sin: Emergence. :o

[Ludoc]

You forgot option #5:

5. Work with Valve and/or Gametap to distribute your game through online channels.

2. Become like Valve and give retailers physical retailers a big "F U."

Bonus questions for this thread:

How many copies of COD4 were sold on PS3? The same number as for PC? If so is it "dead" as well?

[Jack B]

This is why DRM is such a big issue. Sad to see those numbers on a lot of levels.

[silv]

Bonus questions for this thread:

How many copies of COD4 were sold on PS3? The same number as for PC? If so is it "dead" as well?

According to VGChartz it has sold 2million. I really wish we had a less crappy site to get these numbers from.

[KingGorilla]

Originally Posted by Mr.Green
If Steam numbers are that good, why isn't Valve bragging about it?
Because chest thumping with numbers is dumb? The people who should know, publishers and developers, know. The Witcher is no less a great game if I am the only person on earth who bought it. STALKER is getting a "sequel" regardless of if it sold 5 million copies, or sold a single copy at retail. Blizzard increased their subscribers by 2 million even if NPD could not track those sales.

And also because, for now at least, most of PC gaming is handled by gamers not widget salesmen like the console business.

[cp#]

As far as I know, you can't take a pirated game online. Every major PC game hits Usenet and torrent. But I'd rather have fun with my games.

[oldjadedgamer]

Bonus questions for this thread:

How many copies of COD4 were sold on PS3? The same number as for PC? If so is it "dead" as well?

According to NPD, it is the very first million selling game for the PS3 in the US.

[PixelSamurai]

As far as I know, you can't take a pirated game online. Every major PC game hits Usenet and torrent. But I'd rather have fun with my games.

Actually, cracked servers exist for the downloaders. Apparently, COD4 is having a big problem with lots of cracked servers existing.

[KingGorilla]

There are several reasons for having cracked servers, hacks and cheats are popular reasons. Mod making as well.

[Stooby]

There are several reasons for having cracked servers, hacks and cheats are popular reasons. Mod making as well.

It is naive to think that the reason 90% of those users are on those servers isn't because they have a hacked version of CoD4.

The thing hurting PC gaming the most is piracy, and it has a huge effect on the industry.

I would argue that the best way to save PC gaming is to go 100% digital distribution, and to lower the cost of PC games. If I could dl any game off of STEAM for $20 I would buy basically every game that came out with decent reviews. I don't particularly want to pay $50-60 for a game. Especially considering most games now barely provide 12 hours of gameplay.

[Magnanimous Gnome]

These numbers are obviously way off the mark, and anyone using them to sound the death knell of PC gaming is clueless.

The Orange Box is a perfect example. It's not even on this list, yet there are thousands of Team Fortress 2 servers up, and they must be legit copies of the game.