PC Games Nose Dive, 60 Million Less Than 2006 In 2007 Oo

[Gamer]

A quick glance at the PC games sales total for 2007 shows that computer game software only generated a bit over $910 million in retail revenue. In 2006 PC game sales totaled $970 million.

But should the industry be worried by this $60 million drop? Not really, says NPD analyst Anita Frazier. She noted that looking at the retail sales doesn't give us a complete picture, especially as the method of distribution on the PC is increasingly shifting towards digital and away from retail.

"The PC games market is greatly impacted by digital downloads and subscriptions, so there is an undetermined amount of PC games industry revenue that isn't reflected in retail sales. As we've seen from a number of our studies, the PC continues to be a top platform in terms of total game playing time, so I don't think this slight decline in retail sales is anything more than a reflection of a shifting of distribution channels," Frazier explained.

Although NPD doesn't currently have any data or estimate for the amount of revenue generated by digital downloads and subscriptions on the PC, Frazier added, "This [console vs. PC sales gap] isn't really a new phenomenon. Video games software sales, and even just the console portion of that figure (at retail) have been greater than PC retail sales every year that we've tracked (1995). Yes, the video games (console & portable) retail sales have really exploded, but again, until we can get a measurement of dollars spent online, we won't have the true picture."

Source

Top Selling PC Games of 07!

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