NPD Compares PC Sales to Console Best-sellers

Today's NPD numbers left out sales for PC games, as is typical, but this month the market research firm decided to take a look at PC game sales anyway to see how they would fare.

"Although PC games sales are not included in these numbers, there were two that should be pointed out," wrote NPD analyst Anita Frazier in a press release accompanying September's sales data.

"Spore realized sales of 406,000 units and Warhammer Online: Age of Reckoning sold 274,000 which would put them both in the top 10 list of combined console, portable and PC games sales for the month," Frazier continued.

In fact, Spore's numbers would place it squarely in third place for September, just below the explosive launch of Star Wars: The Force Unleashed (PS3, PS2, 360, Wii, DS, PSP) and perpetual best-seller Wii Fit. Warhammer Online, on the other hand, would take eighth in a combined PC-and-console sales chart.

If Warhammer's sales look at odds with the 500,000 players the game picked up in the days after its September 18 launch, it's because NPD only looks at United States retail sales whereas Warhammer's subscriber base is a worldwide number.