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Weekly PC NPD, Direct2Drive Charts: Ubisoft Catalog Titles Appear
by Chris Remo [PC, Console/PC, Exclusive]
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May 5, 2009
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In an attempt to represent the significantly changing PC game marketplace, Gamasutra tracks on a weekly basis the top ten best-selling PC games according to two major firms representing retail sales and digital distribution.
NPD data is aggregated from over thirty retail outlets, while Direct2Drive data is provided directly by that digital distribution services itself.
NPD
This week's NPD hasn't changed much from last week -- in fact, it contains the exact same ten titles, slightly rearranged.
In particular, Left 4 Dead moved up two spaces, and last week's debuting Demigod moved down three.
The full top ten list, reflecting the week ending April 25, is as follows:
1. World Of Warcraft: Wrath of the Lich King (Blizzard Entertainment)
2. The Sims 2 Double Deluxe (EA Maxis)
3. World Of Warcraft: Battle Chest (Blizzard Entertainment)
4. Left 4 Dead (Valve Software)
5. Empire: Total War (The Creative Assembly, Sega)
6. Demigod (Gas Powered Games, Stardock
7. Company of Heroes: Tales of Valor (Relic Entertainment, THQ)
8. World Of Warcraft (Blizzard Entertainment)
9. Spore (EA Maxis)
10. The Sims 2 Apartment Life (EA Maxis)
Direct2Drive
The Direct2Drive weekly chart is an interesting snapshot, as the storefront was running a 50 percent off special on several older Ubisoft titles, including Assassin's Creed, Far Cry 2 and Rainbow Six Vegas 2. The sale ended on May 3.
New release Neverwinter Nights 2: Mysteries of Westgate was able to control the top spot despite strong sales of discounted games.
The full D2D top ten list, reflecting the week ending May 2, is as follows:
1. Neverwinter Nights 2: Mysteries of Westgate (Ossian Studios, Atari)
2. Assassin's Creed Director's Cut (Ubisoft Montreal)
3. Far Cry 2 w/ Fortunes Pack Bundle (Ubisoft Montreal)
4. Call of Juarez (Techland, Ubisoft)
5. Final Fantasy XI (Square Enix)
6. Civilization IV (Firaxis, 2K Games)
7. DCS: Black Shark (Eagle Dynamics, Take-Two)
8. Tom Clancy's Rainbow Six Vegas 2 (Ubisoft Montreal)
9. Cryostasis (Action Forms, Aspyr)
10. Rome: Total War Gold Edition (Creative Assembly, Activision)
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How can games expect to sell when they don't get any shelf space and the store doesn't even stock enough copies to meet the impulse buyer demand? Doesn't best buy follow what is selling? Wouldn't it makes sense to prominently display, at least, L4D and Demigod and order a few more copies?
There is plenty of room. Just leave a few copies of WOW in the back and turn a few of those WOW retail boxes on their side. It is not like it will hurt the sales of WOW.
How can publishers and developers address this? Doesn't best buy want to sell these games? You could move a few more copies just by adjusting the racks a tiny bit.
Also, game prices in best buy suck for the most part. L4D was a good deal though. Just $29.99 (at the same time it was 40% off on Steam), I like the hard product myself.