Byte vs Brick: Week Ending Oct 1
And again! A not entirely industry-representative yet unquestionably fascinating/depressing look at what comprised the top ten PC game sales for Steam compared to UK retail over the last week. Will The Sims' dominance of retail continue unabated? (Obviously). Will there be any surprise returns to the Steam top ten? (Yeah, actually). Read on to find out the answers to both these questions and more, as long as those questions concern the chart-placing of contemporary PC games. If you want to find out the answer to what the Queen had for breakfast this morning or where Muammar Gaddafi is hiding, I really cannot recommend reading the rest of this post.
Steam:
Note - includes pre-orders, but the UK retail chart does not.
1. Dead Island
2. The Witcher 2: Assassins of Kings
3. A Game of Thrones: Genesis
4. Total War: Shogun 2
5. Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 3
6. F1 2011
7. Deus Ex: Human Revolution
8. Blood Bowl: Legendary Edition
9. Total War: Shogun 2 - Rise of the Samurai
10. Fallout: New Vegas - Lonesome Road
So, well done The Witcher 2 and Blood Bowl - sales and updates have done you great favours. Obviously the industry trend is towards paid DLC - hello Shogun 2 and Fallout: New Vegas - but the Witcher 2's placement there suggests that putting out generous free updates can potentially be bigger money-drivers. More of that sort of thing, please.
UK Retail:
1. FIFA 12
2. 2. The Sims 3
3. The Sims 3: Generations
4. Deus Ex: Human Revolution
5. Warhammer 40,000: Space Marine
6. A Game Of Thrones: Genesis
7. The Sims: Medieval
8. Football Manager 2011
9. F1 2011
10. The Sims 3: Late Night
Well, yeah. Not many surprises there, with the UK's pathological obsession with 22 gentlemen kicking a bag of air around a big lawn ensuring EA's coffers are having their annual restock. Space Marine remains telling, as its mysterious withdrawal from direct sale on Steam in the UK means interested parties are more likely to head to retailers (note - this also reflects sales made at etailers such as Amazon) if they want to get hold of it. Alternatively, they could use a tool to trick Steam into thinking their PC is in the US and buy it that way, but that sort of thing can result in bans if you're caught doing it.
I notice A Game Of Thrones has managed to make plenty of hay while the TV series' sun shines, despite there being no early reviews (we only got code on the day of release, FYI, and the same seems to be true of everywhere else). Funny that, eh? I've had a look at it, for a review due on Eurogamer soon (Adam's currently sniffing at it for us), and... well. Yes.
F1 2011's done pretty well, by the look of it. I hear unconfirmed reports there are some technical problems with the PC version, though. Anyone care to corroborate or disprove that rampant specu-gossip?