Spore Outsells Microsoft Office: September's 20 Best-Selling PC Games Revealed

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Rollings its weekly PC sales charts into one giant monthly bundle, the NPD Group has released a list of the 20 best-selling PC games at U.S. retailers across September.

Recent releases such as Spore, Warhammer Online, Crysis Warhead and S.T.A.L.K.E.R.: Clear Sky all made strong debuts, with classics such as The Sims 2, World of Warcraft, StarCraft, Warcraft III and Diablo continuing to sell well.

Unlike the regular console sales charts, no hard figures were provided, though NPD yesterday revealed that the regular edition of Spore sold 406,000 units and Warhammer Online: Age of Reckoning hit 274,000. Had the two been factored into the console sales chart, Spore would have ranked third while WAR would be eighth.

Along with the other data, NPD also provided a list of the month's best-selling PC software, which showed that Spore outsold the perennial chart-topper Microsoft Office.

PC Game Sales (September)

  1. Spore / EA Maxis / $50 (Average)
  2. Warhammer Online: Age of Reckoning / EA Mythic / $49 (Average)
  3. The Sims 2 Apartment Life Expansion Pack / EA Maxis / $30 (Average)
  4. Warhammer Online: Age of Reckoning Collector's Edition / EA Mythic / $80 (Average)
  5. Spore Galactic Edition / EA Maxis / $79 (Average)
  6. World Of Warcraft: Battle Chest / Blizzard / $37 (Average)
  7. Crysis Warhead / Crytek (Publisher: EA) / $29 (Average)
  8. The Sims 2 Double Deluxe / EA Maxis / $30 (Average)
  9. World Of Warcraft / Blizzard / $20 (Average)
  10. Spore Creature Creator / EA Maxis / $10 (Average)
  11. World Of Warcraft: Burning Crusade / Blizzard / $28 (Average)
  12. Civilization IV: Colonization / Firaxis / $29 (Average)
  13. Warcraft III Battle Chest / Blizzard / $39 (Average)
  14. Civilization IV / Firaxis / $27 (Average)
  15. The Sims 2 IKEA Home Stuff Expansion / EA Maxis / $20 (Average)
  16. Diablo Battle Chest / Blizzard / $39 (Average)
  17. StarCraft Battle Chest / Blizzard / $20 (Average)
  18. Hot Wheels: Beat That / Activision / $15 (Average)
  19. Crysis / Crytek (Publisher: EA) / $38 (Average)
  20. S.T.A.L.K.E.R.: Clear Sky / GSC Game World / $39 (Average)

Overall PC Software Sales (September)

  1. Spore / EA Maxis / $50 (Average)
  2. MS Office 2007 Home & Student 3User / Microsoft / $125 (Average)
  3. Warhammer Online: Age of Reckoning / EA Mythic / $49 (Average)
  4. Trend Micro AntiVirus 2008 Plus Anti-Spyware / Trend Micro/ $24 (Average)
  5. Spy Sweeper / Webroot / $21 (Average)
  6. Norton 360 2.0 3User / Symantec / $65 (Average)
  7. The Sims 2 Apartment Life Expansion Pack / EA Maxis / $30 (Average)
  8. Norton Antivirus 2008 / Symantec / $35 (Average)
  9. Trend Micro Internet Security 2008 3User / Trend Micro / $45 (Average)
  10. Spy Sweeper w/Antivirus 3User / Webroot / $40 (Average)
  11. Norton Internet Security 2008 3User / Symantec / $62 (Average)
  12. MS Office 2007 / Microsoft / $105 (Average)
  13. Warhammer Online: Age of Reckoning Collector's Edition / EA Mythic / $80 (Average)
  14. Spore Galactic Edition / EA Maxis / $79 (Average)
  15. World Of Warcraft: Battle Chest / Blizzard / $37 (Average)
  16. Windows Live OneCare 2.0 3User / Microsoft / $40 (Average)
  17. Crysis Warhead / Crytek (Publisher: EA) / $29 (Average)
  18. VirusScan Plus 2008 / McAfee Inc. / $20 (Average)
  19. MobileMe / Apple / $74 (Average)
  20. The Sims 2 Double Deluxe / EA Maxis / $30 (Average)

Chris Faylor was previously a games journalist creating content at Shacknews.

From The Chatty
  • reply
    October 17, 2008 2:21 PM

    It must be nice to be Blizzard. I don't understand why companies ever release anything that hasn't gone through 50 levels of quality review like Blizz does. I know it's a lot more expensive to do that but look at the results.

    I'm a little disappointed to see CoD4 has fallen off that list. Time for a price cut?

    • reply
      October 17, 2008 3:00 PM

      Shooters get boring much faster than other genres and quite frankly CS>CoD, although the weapons in CoD are a bit more balanced.

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