News > Geek > The Top 100 PC Games of the 21st Century?

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WEDNESDAY SEPTEMBER 6 2006 11:00 PM

The Top 100 PC Games of the 21st Century?

Submitted by Scopitone

Edited by Scopitone

Tags: PC, games, best of

Next-Gen has prematurely released a list of the top 100 PC games of the 21st century based entirely on the number of units sold. A quick perusal of the list reveals dozens of games you've never heard of and will most likely never play on account of them being diabolically terrible, whilst the rest are games you most likely own and have shunned your family in favor of.

Here are some notes on how this list works.
Stats, ordering and research: thanks to game publishers, retail analysis sources and NPD data.
Games are ranked by units sold; then by revenue generated. This tends to favor games released earlier, rather than later, and games which have spent a long time at a lower price point have also done well, but we wanted to reward longevity and popularity across all audiences, not just hardcore.
In the event of a tie, games are then ranked by 'most recently released' and then by Gameranking average review scores. Special thanks to Gamerankings, just for being an exceptionally well produced resource.
Games are ranked according to the highest selling SKU only. Otherwise the list would be full of sports iterations and big brand spin-offs and sequels. In the case of a single intellectual property being used in multiple genres of game, however, each genre's top SKU will be represented we want to reward taking risks with IP.

Starting out atop the list one will quickly find this little gem.

98.
Slots 2: Betty Boop
Publisher: Masque
Developer: Masque
Released: Oct '01
Estimated Sales: 210,000
Franchise Sales: 1.4 Million
Revenues: $3.8 Million

Surely the humans buying this discounted "Entertainment" software out of Wal-Mart discount bins across America are a financial force to be reckoned with. Though it should be unbelievably inspiring to any would-be game developers out there to know that a slot machine game featuring a character your grandmother found hilarious can generate millions in revenue.

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Comments

Jamwise

Australia

April 2006

SEP 06, 2006 11:06 PM

mmyeah.

lolly

Madison, WI

April 2004

SEP 06, 2006 11:17 PM

C'mon Betyy Boop rocked!

Vestril

Coronado, CA

February 2003

SEP 06, 2006 11:17 PM

Hoyle Casino 2001 outsold Morrowind? Ouch.

I'm not sure how much stock I can put into this list. WoW sales at 1.4 million people? That doesn't even sound like the right number for north america

Trevallion

Murfreesboro, TN

February 2004

SEP 06, 2006 11:19 PM

Why are there so many Tycoon games? They're all so bad!

malkav11

Saint Paul, MN

July 2003

SEP 06, 2006 11:29 PM

Because the vast majority of consumers are clueless idiots when it comes to anything outside their particular fields of expertise, if any.

Signon

Austin, TX

June 2005

SEP 07, 2006 12:41 AM

Christ. They list games from 2000 as 21st century.

We'll never see the end of that idiotic argument, will we?

TigerAngel

Bellvue, CO

February 2005

SEP 07, 2006 01:48 AM

Morrowind is only 62? That surprises me. And Halo was lower than Doom 3? Wow.

And Barbie: Pet Rescue was 28????? Wha..........?

And was it me or was Kingdom Hearts not even on there? Again very surprising.

Hmmph.

Trevallion

Murfreesboro, TN

February 2004

SEP 07, 2006 01:52 AM

malkav11 said:
Because the vast majority of consumers are clueless idiots when it comes to anything outside their particular fields of expertise, if any.

I guess I should fess up and admit that I've purchased at least three Tycoon games, all the while lying to myself that they'd be worth a damn. The only one that was slightly entertaining was Rollercoaster Tycoon. The others were just crappy sim games with the Tycoon label slapped on them.

Snottlebocket

Netherlands

March 2004

SEP 07, 2006 02:14 AM

malkav11 said:
Because the vast majority of consumers are clueless idiots when it comes to anything outside their particular fields of expertise, if any.

that's elitist, i'd say the vast majority of game consumers are simply people that don't have super high expections, don't want mindblowing gaming experiences, they just want simple fun for a decent price.
the segment of gamers that actually discusses the latest videocards, goes to lans, and pwn's n00bs is just a small minority.

and then there's the big marketsegment of gamers that doesn't really care about how innovative ICO is or how amazing the graphics on this shooter are, they got a favourite tv show / rapper / wrestling program and they just like playing the games associated with that.

I have a ladyfriend like that, she shells out good money for in my eyes shoddy cash in's like the american idol game, but when I see her play she's having a ton of fun and getting her money's worth.
so i'd say it's rather elitist to call these people clueless idiots just because they don't invest and wait for the cream of the crop, they know perfectly well what they want and that's entertainment.

mokole

Canada

June 2004

SEP 07, 2006 02:24 AM

was kingdom hearts ever released on the pc? but aside that, the list is off, no way any other fps should have ranked higher then half life 2, and where was half life? they should really revamp that list, and remove the crap games, and try again

Vestril

Coronado, CA

February 2003

SEP 07, 2006 02:40 AM

mokole said:
was kingdom hearts ever released on the pc? but aside that, the list is off, no way any other fps should have ranked higher then half life 2, and where was half life? they should really revamp that list, and remove the crap games, and try again

Right, Half Life, released after 2000...but wait, it wasn't!