Top 15 Best Selling PC Games of All Time

[OJsDad]

From Toms Hardware

http://www.tomshardware.com/picturestory/587-15-best-selling-game-list.html

[Slick Wilhelm]

I'm really surprised that Cossacks made that list.

[Jarhead0331]

^think internationally.  Personally, I'm surprised Minecraft is on the list.  If you think about it, that is quite an accomplishment.

[TheCommandTent]

Interesting list thanks for sharing.

[Bismarck]

No Civ" Something's fishy.

[Nefaro]

And here's the brick & mortar sales only disclaimer:

Before we hear a lot of complaints, I'm going to head off some concerns. Like most PC game sale reports, we're looking only at retail sales. This doesn't count digital distribution networks or subscription figures.

With things like Myst, and numerous The Sims titles, you realize that much of them are impulse buys by Wal-Martians.

[Staggerwing]

And here's the brick & mortar sales only disclaimer:

Before we hear a lot of complaints, I'm going to head off some concerns. Like most PC game sale reports, we're looking only at retail sales. This doesn't count digital distribution networks or subscription figures.

With things like Myst, and numerous The Sims titles, you realize that much of them are impulse buys by Wal-Martians.

I wasn't aware that you could buy Minecraft in stores.  ???

[son_of_montfort]

^think internationally.  Personally, I'm surprised Minecraft is on the list.  If you think about it, that is quite an accomplishment.

I'm not at all surprised. Mojang made enough money to go from one guy in his home-office to a multi-million dollar operation with employees and an actual building within about six months.

I wish I had learned Java... because Minecraft was exactly the type of game I would develop. Somewhere he has a time-line of his success story. It was rather phenomenal to look at the graphic representation of it. He goes from like 1,000 sales to over a million within an astounding amount of time.

[TheCommandTent]

^Is this what you are talking about?

http://cdn.bitrebels.netdna-cdn.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/12/The-Rise-Of-Minecraft-Game-1.jpg

[son_of_montfort]

^ Yes! Thanks. Think about 4 million sales x ~$15. That's pretty impressive for an indie!

[Nefaro]

And here's the brick & mortar sales only disclaimer:

Before we hear a lot of complaints, I'm going to head off some concerns. Like most PC game sale reports, we're looking only at retail sales. This doesn't count digital distribution networks or subscription figures.

With things like Myst, and numerous The Sims titles, you realize that much of them are impulse buys by Wal-Martians.

I wasn't aware that you could buy Minecraft in stores.  ???

You must've missed my mention of "much".  Not "all".  ;)

I imagine Minecraft, and any other new ones on the list, will have their total sales shown - including 'net sales which is nearly exclusively that anymore for PC games.  Of course, indies like that aren't so cagey about mentioning how much they've sold, too.

[Dimitris]

Doom? Quake? Unreal Tournament?

[Staggerwing]

And here's the brick & mortar sales only disclaimer:

Before we hear a lot of complaints, I'm going to head off some concerns. Like most PC game sale reports, we're looking only at retail sales. This doesn't count digital distribution networks or subscription figures.

With things like Myst, and numerous The Sims titles, you realize that much of them are impulse buys by Wal-Martians.

I wasn't aware that you could buy Minecraft in stores.  ???

You must've missed my mention of "much".  Not "all".  ;)

I imagine Minecraft, and any other new ones on the list, will have their total sales shown - including 'net sales which is nearly exclusively that anymore for PC games.  Of course, indies like that aren't so cagey about mentioning how much they've sold, too.

Their disclaimer would seem to indicate that digital distribution wasn't counted, yet Minecraft is D/L only and even server-related!
Why does that count while Stream, etc, doesn't?

[Centurion40]

No Civ" Something's fishy.

Excellent point.

[Nefaro]

Their disclaimer would seem to indicate that digital distribution wasn't counted, yet Minecraft is D/L only and even server-related!
Why does that count while Stream, etc, doesn't?

That's my point.. there's no method to the numbers, they just grabbed whatever was announced.  Be it mostly brick & mortar sales (The Sims has always been on the top of those lists) or indie web only stuff.  The thing is, even the older games probably had a fair amount of web sales even if they were just shipped directly to someone's home.   

This list is BS as it doesn't show actual totals for all, mixes/omits retail venues willy nilly, and doesn't represent many of the hushed sales figures that were never released.  It's all speculation, and unbalanced speculation at that.

;D