Is wow the best selling pc game of all time?

[Chickat]

Just counting vanilla boxes/battle chests, is wow the best selling pv game of all time? Wikipedia has it at 4m something, but we know thats not right.

[Viradiance]

I don't think so, but I'm actually pretty sure Starcraft 1 is.


Well. Nevermind. Went to Wikipedia midway through this post, found this.

According to that list, it's The Sims 2.

[Keny]

Maybe not best selling, but Most profitable .

[Tekkommo]

Doesn't make sense to me, to play WoW, don't you have to buy it in the first place? Even in Asia?

Didn't SWTOR sell at least 2m copies as well? Or I'm just being blind and didn't see them.

[Amirila]

Well, WoW had 12 million at it's peak, I'm pretty sure it SHOULD have sold more than a meek 4 million, maybe more than Sims 1 (maybe 2?)

[Rucati]

If you count all of the expansions I'd imagine it's probably very close. Regardless I'd bet money on it being the most profitable. Even if it only sold a quarter as many copies as the top game, the subscriptions and everything would push it way over any other game.

[Venziir]

"Just counting boxes/battle chests", well then that's kinda obvious why it's just 4mio then, since most people buy digital versions.

[Deleted]

All of the Sims (1, 2 and 3) are 10 mil+ sales, Diablo is 12 million etc.. so I don't think WoWs anywhere close really. If you combine the sims franchise you have something like 35 million sales.

[Deleted]

Biggest amount of box sales?

Doubtful.

Most profitable?

By miles and nothing will ever come close for a very very long time.

[Chickat]

I don't think so, but I'm actually pretty sure Starcraft 1 is.


Well. Nevermind. Went to Wikipedia midway through this post, found this.

According to that list, it's The Sims 2.

Yeah, thats what wiki said, but blizz have stated wow has had like 40m players in its history. That should be 40m boxes sold.

[Deleted]

Yeah, irrc the Sims or Sim 2 is considered the best selling PC Game.

WoW is still the most profitable though, thanks to subscriptions.

Call of Duty might be the most profitable franchise however, if you consider all platforms.

[Chickat]

All of the Sims (1, 2 and 3) are 10 mil+ sales, Diablo is 12 million etc.. so I don't think WoWs anywhere close really. If you combine the sims franchise you have something like 35 million sales.

Dont combine franchises. In order to play wow you have to buy the game. 40m people have bought the game in wows history meaning there should be 40m box sells. Even if im wrong about the 40m i know its over 20m sales.

[glo]

I imagine if Valve ever decided to release sales figures for Counter Strike, it would be in the top 3, if not the top spot.

[Viradiance]

I imagine if Valve ever decided to release sales figures for Counter Strike, it would be in the top 3, if not the top spot.

Or if they just fucking release Half Life 3 they could sell a copy to every human on the planet in the first week.

[Deleted]

Yeah, thats what wiki said, but blizz have stated wow has had like 40m players in its history. That should be 40m boxes sold.

I'm not sure if they include trial accounts in that - also they've always said that a large portion of their sub base resides in the east; where the model works different. I don't believe they buy boxed copies for themselves in Asia where a great deal of people play in internet cafes - since they do not have monthly subscriptions but pay by the minute/hours.

A friend told me that he paid around $3 for 2000 minutes of WoW time in a cybercafe in China - you can create accounts for free; but have to buy a gamecard to add time to the account. People with gamecards could be considered subscribers, but they didn't buy the box which is the western model.

[Deleted]

Wiki says that WoW sold 4.7 million copies? How come it has more subs then that? Is the box free in the east?

[Deleted]

Yeah, thats what wiki said, but blizz have stated wow has had like 40m players in its history. That should be 40m boxes sold.

I'm not sure if they include trial accounts in that - also they've always said that a large portion of their sub base resides in the east; where the model works different. I don't believe they buy boxed copies for themselves in Asia where a great deal of people play in internet cafes - since they do not have monthly subscriptions but pay by the minute/hours.

A friend told me that he paid around $3 for 2000 minutes of WoW time in a cybercafe in China - you can create accounts for free; but have to buy a gamecard to add time to the account. People with gamecards could be considered subscribers, but they didn't buy the box which is the western model.

Dont combine franchises. In order to play wow you have to buy the game. 40m people have bought the game in wows history meaning there should be 40m box sells. Even if im wrong about the 40m i know its over 20m sales.

Nope, because there are only 4.7 million sales listed for WoW original, even if all those people buy the expansions, that's less than 20 million for the franchise - because of the eastern model described above.

[Vankrys]

Doesn't make sense to me, to play WoW, don't you have to buy it in the first place? Even in Asia?

Didn't SWTOR sell at least 2m copies as well? Or I'm just being blind and didn't see them.

no, not in china (which is by far the biggest asian market). You don't "sell" game in china, you rent them, hourly.

- - - Updated - - -

"Just counting boxes/battle chests", well then that's kinda obvious why it's just 4mio then, since most people buy digital versions.

i don't think that's it, since number comes from blizzard press release and includes digital sales.

[Airwaves]

Gota be the Sims.

[lunchbox2042]

http://www.statisticbrain.com/blizza...nt-statistics/

A quick google search yielded that result. It's from 2012 though.