Consumer research firm The NPD Group has released its overview of U.S. PC game sales for 2006, with retail revenues over $970 million - a 1 percent increase over PC based revenue posted in 2005.
The firm detailed the top ten PC titles in the U.S. for the entirety of 2006, which unsurprisingly saw Blizzard and Vivendi's hugely popular
World of Warcraft on top of the annual chart - this chart does not yet track digital downloads of games, however.
However, while the MMORPG managed to trump all other releases for the year, it was Electronic Arts' popular
The Sims 2 franchise that enjoyed the most representation on the chart, with the core game and three of its existing expansions being counted among the year's top 10 PC releases in the U.S. The complete chart is as follows:
Top 10 PC games of 2006
1.
World Of Warcraft, Vivendi
2.
The Sims 2, EA
3.
The Sims 2: Open For Business Expansion Pack, EA
4.
Star Wars: Empire At War, LucasArts
5.
The Sims 2 Pets Expansion Pack, EA
6.
The Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion, Take-Two
7.
Age Of Empires III, Microsoft
8.
The Sims 2 Family Fun Stuff Expansion Pack, EA
9.
Civilization IV, Take-Two
10.
The Sims 2 Nightlife Expansion Pack, EA
The overall game market in 2006 was $13.5 billion in North America, and turning to the console market, it was EA's seminal
Madden NFL 07 that managed to secure the top sport in game sales within the U.S.
In addition, titles from EA proved to be the dominant force on the console chart for the year, with titles such as
NCAA Football 07,
Need for Speed: Most Wanted, and
Fight Night Round 3 also being represented. The top 10 U.S. console software titles by revenue are:
Top 10 console games for 2006
1.
Madden NFL 07, EA
2.
Cars, THQ
3.
Lego Star Wars II: The Original Trilogy, LucasArts
4.
NCAA Football 07, EA
5.
New Super Mario Bros., Nintendo
6.
Need for Speed: Most Wanted, EA
7.
Gears of War, Microsoft
8.
Call of Duty 3, Activision
9.
Lego Star Wars, LucasArts
10.
Fight Night Round 3, EA
