So what’s the big deal about these games? Apparently Crysis, which was released on November 13th (not a friday), ‘only’ sold 86,000 copies in the month of November, in the United States. Meanwhile Unreal Tournament 3, released on November 19th, sold ‘only’ 34,000 copies. Gaming sites are citing these as pitiful numbers for long-awaited PC games, but are they really all that bad? Let’s take a look, shall we?

Ok, let’s not beat around the bush here: no, these are not bad sales figures at all. While it’s easy to look at these figures and then those of a console blockbuster like Call of Duty 4 and then come to the conclusion that these games sold poorly, there are more factors at play here.

But before I outline what these question marks entail, let’s sort a few things out first. This is not a comparison of PC and Console gaming, or some sort of ‘PC gaming rules all’ post - it’s merely a collection of facts and opinions that provide food for thought and a little more insight into this story than most major gaming sites are providing. So take a look, let it sink in and form your own opinion.

• Crysis is mentioned as having ‘disappointing’ sales figures by various gaming sites. What these sites neglect to mention is the fact that Electronic Arts had anticipated roughly 60,000 sales in the first month for this game. This means that the performance of Crysis was well above expectations, in fact: a rough 40% above expectations. It’s hard to call this disappointing in any way, shape or form.
• These sale statistics are purely for the American market, one which is already largely console-oriented. As such it is no surprise to see console games sell significantly better than PC games - they always have. If you want to confirm this console-orientation, head to an American game store and try to find PC games, you’ll likely have to look in some obscure corner. A similar picture can be seen on American TV where publishers widely spread advertisements for console games, but not PC games. A good example is how Midway opted to promote it’s mediocre shooter Blacksite Area 51 for multiple platforms, but not it’s star, PC-oriented, title Unreal Tournament 3 - which actually didn’t receive any advertising whatsoever.
• European regions are showing an entirely different picture. German statistics for example indicate Crysis being located in 1st place, with it’s collector’s edition taking up a solid 6th place. Meanwhile Unreal Tournament 3 comes in at a decent 9th place, above the PS3 version of Call of Duty 4. Considering this is a nation of roughly 80 million people, those statistics guarantee sizable sales figures for both games.
• Any and all online sales are not counted towards these sales figures. Being a PC gamer myself, I have a fair few friends and acquaintances who play PC games as well. Let’s just say that roughly 80% of them buy all of their games online. So the question is: how large a percentage of PC game sales come through online channels? For all we know those American sales figures might be tripled when factoring in online stores and digital download channels. Particularly with regards to Unreal Tournament 3 - where I have yet to come across anyone who hasn’t purchased it online.
• Americans have been bombarded with advertising for new console games this past month, whereas Crysis and Unreal Tournament 3 basically had to sell based on their rep. alone. Once the wave of hype and advertising dies down and word of mouth kicks in, both PC games are likely to pick up in sales. In fact - this already seems to be working well for UT3, as you can see in this topic on the official UT forums.
• Unreal Tournament games have never - well, aside from the very first edition - sold especially well in the first few months. This franchise is well-known for selling steadily over time, and constantly providing new rebundles and scene-modifications that lure in an unrelenting stream of new players. This combined with a very large percentage of the hardcore fanbase holding off for PC upgrades or patches, ensured a particularly slow start.
• PC games tend to sell consistently over long periods of time, perhaps in part because their prices drop relatively quickly and PC games stay available at budget prices for a very long time. The Sims didn’t sell tens of millions of copies overnight, nor did World of Warcraft. No, all the best-selling PC games are all games that sold consistently over long periods of time, heck both The Sims and World of Warcraft still rank high in monthly top 10 lists! Meanwhile console games tend to follow the cinema-timeline: if it doesn’t attract tons of viewers in the first week, then it won’t do well.

So are 34,000 copies for UT3 and 86,000 copies for Crysis disappointing sales figures? Surely the Crysis figures are not. As for Unreal Tournament 3’s? Perhaps: it did sell only half as much as was anticipated by publisher Midway. Still, there are no known sales figures for online sales or other regions of the world, nor do we know just how much these games might still sell in the coming months.

In any case, it’s safe to say the recent hype surrounding these sales statistics is indeed one thing: a debacle. A debacle of gaming sites worldwide, who picked up on this news knowing full well that they were misleading their public by wrongly presenting these facts. At least bother to mention the simple fact that Crysis actually sold better than expected!

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