Gamertell

At seeing the list of top-selling games for 2007, the first thing I saw that made me scour the internet for confirmation was that Wii Play took the #2 spot.  I know it has been out since February 12, 2007, and had more time to collect sales, but come on. This game got mediocre reviews across the board, and Mario Party 8 didn’t fair a lot better. 

Where is Bioshock?  Where is Forza 2?  Where is The Orange Box?  Where are all the games that we hardcore gamers look for?  Well son, the times they are a changing.  I think the Seth Scheisel, of the NY Times has hit this one on the head: critically praised single-player games that appeal to hardcore gamers are being outsold by multiplayer games that appear to a less hard-core audience (and critics).

Take a look at the list below again and you will see that 9 out of the 10 are games possess a fun multiplayer aspect:

1. Halo 3 (Xbox 360) - $4,820,000
2. Wii Play with Remote (Wii) - $4,120,000
3. Call of Duty 4: Modern Warfare (Xbox 360) - $3,040,000
4. Guitar Hero III: Legends of Rock (PS2) - $2,720,000
5. Super Mario Galaxy (Wii) - $2,520,000
6. Pokemon Diamond (DS) - $2,480,000
7. Madden NFL 08 (PS2) - $1,900,000
8. Guitar Hero II (PS2) - $1,890,000
9. Assassin’s Creed (Xbox 360) - $1,870,000
10. Mario Party 8 (Wii) - 1,820,000

Like it or not, we live in a market driving economy.  That means that whatever sells is what companies will produce.  I mean, if you were making a living selling video games and you looked at the list of the top selling games for 2007, what types of games would you plan to make in the future? 

Multiplayer aspects of games are moving from nice-to-have status to being absolutely essential.  It is already to the point that successful games are being produced without a significant single player aspect.  Take the two Wii games mentioned above for example.  You won’t see many people playing those games alone, yet they graced the top ten list.

It looks like the days of playing by yourself, down in some dark basement are over.  Now it looks like you’ve either have to stick to the classics or develop enough social skills to step out into the real world.  Or just stick to World of Warcraft, where you get the best of both worlds - LEEROY JENKINS!

Via [NY Times]  Also read [Kotaku]