NPD: July's U.S. PC Game Sales Again Dominated By WoW

The NPD Group has released the list of the best-selling retail PC games for July 2006 in North America, with Vivendi Universal and Blizzard's World Of Warcraft again laying siege to the top spot on the chart. Blizzard's popular MMO was followed by THQ's Cars Radiator Springs Adventures, which itself preceded a trio of titles from Electronic Arts' The Sims 2 franchise. The game's Family Fun Stuff expansion pack was the third most selling PC title for the month, followed by The Sims 2 itself and its Open For Business expansion respectively. Elsewhere on the chart, the game's Nightlife expansion ranked twelfth on the chart, while University appeared on the list of the first time in eighteenth. EA's The Sims Complete Collection, a compilation of the original The Sims and its three expansions, debuted on the chart as the sixteenth most selling PC title for the month. NCsoft's Guild Wars Factions climbed two spots from last month's number eight position to become the sixth most sold PC title for the month. THQ and Iron Lore's Titan Quest debuted in the number seven spot on the chart, knocking 2K Games' Bethesda-developed RPG The Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion down one spot to eighth. EA-published Half-Life 2: Episode 1, the second best-selling PC title in June, fell dramatically into ninth spot, a drop that represented the second biggest fall of the month on the chart. Only Ubisoft and Nival Interactive's Heroes Of Might & Magic V suffered more for the month, falling from ninth to nineteenth. Microsoft's MS Zoo Tycoon: Complete Collection, which includes the original release as well as its accompanying expansions, rounded out the retail top ten, while its sequel, Zoo Tycoon 2 ranked as the thirteenth most purchased PC title in North America for the period. [NOTE: NPD's monthly charts do not currently factor in online digital sales, though the company is reportedly moving toward this goal.]