number of sold copies of CIV III?

[georges bonbon]

Is there anybody who knows how many copies of CIV III have been sold?

Are we talking about a few 100.000 worldwide or is it more in the line of one of the Tombraiders , which if I remember correctly sold around 7-8 million?

And what is the average of a good selling PC-game?

[Firebird]

More than a million.

[vondrack]

Originally posted by Firebird
More than a million.

...which is very good for a TBS game. Actually, not only for a TBS game... publishers just dream their average titles would sell over 1 million copies... Tomb Raiders are exceptionally great selling games thanks to their appeal to the mass market (but then, you are basically adding sales figures for several games together - there have been five Tomb Raiders so far).

[Alex]

Yes, more than 1 million, and, as vondrack said, it is an exceptionally good number for a TBS. It is not surprising that Activision and Microprose have struggled for the rights to use the name "Civilization" in the past, considering how strong it is as a widely recognizable brand...

[Apolex]

Grand Theft Auto III has sold about 7 million copies so far. They are expecting Vice City to go over 10 million! (4 million copies have already been pre-sold).

http://www.usatoday.com/tech/techreviews/games/2002-10-29-grand-theft-auto_x.htm

You're right Vondrack, over a mil is pretty good for Civ III... definitely enough to justify a Civ IV one day

But 10 million? Wow. This quote sums it up:

"Ten million copies could generate $400 million, a take that would be the envy of Hollywood and very comparable to a major box office smash on the order of Spider-Man."

(edit: added quote)

[Myrddin]

Bur we will we ever see a programmer getting $10 million a game?

[Redstar]

well lets do an official count now. Raise your hand up if you bought Civ 3.


I'll start by putting up my hand.. *raises hand*

OK so as of right now, the official count is

*drum roll*


ONE


)

(on a sad note a great game like freespace 2 only sold 2300 copies yet a cheap game like millionaire sold millions. grr)

[vmxa1]

It is the Kmart/Walmart effect.

[Redstar]

speaking of Walmart...i was just reading about them forcing a certain game company to release a game early or FACE the prospect of never being able to see their products sold in walmart stores again.

The company complied and shipped a pre-beta version!!
It was a total disaster. The distributor cited for comment is infogrames --the same as civ 3.

SO it makes you wonder just what extreme coercion
a developer like firaxis must tolerate in the current gaming environment.

I have a renewed sympathy for them when gamers decry that they shipped the product too early.

[vmxa1]

I forget the game, but it was not Civ, it only looks that way. Happy face here

[WarpStorm]

Originally posted by Redstar
I have a renewed sympathy for them when gamers decry that they shipped the product too early.

I suspect they were forced too. The guys at Firaxis have too much love of gaming to have thought it was really ready.

[Redstar]

no, it was a flight sim...i forget name just now.

It was just an example of the really strong arm tactics developers face these days.

[Jon Shafer]

Civ is the best selling TBS game series in history. After that, I would put my money on Europa Universalis. And yes, I believe Civ III reached over a million a couple months ago, if I remember what Jeff said correctly.

I'm really disappointed with Infogrames. Not only with how they've handled Civ 3, but numerous others of their games. Virtually no information is given out about them, and very little support with very rushed dates. There are often a lot of irate people over at the Infogrames forums.