Dawn of War II Dethrones Lich King

[John Funk]

Dawn of War II Dethrones Lich King

Relic's Warhammer 40k: Dawn of War II has broken Blizzard's stranglehold on the US PC sales charts in its first week, knocking Wrath of the Lich King from its Frozen Throne.

It seems like the World of Warcraft juggernaut has finally met a match - if perhaps only a temporary one. Since its release in November, the game's second expansion, Wrath of the Lich King, has ruled the sales charts in the US with an iron-gloved fist. Anyone who didn't see this coming, given that Lich King's predecessors were also chart-toppers, might have needed to work on their pattern recognition.

Its time has come, though - after all, if there's anyone who knows how to kill (space) Orcs and (space) Elves, it's the Space Marines of Warhammer 40,000's Imperium. GI.biz [http://www.gamesindustry.biz/articles/dawn-of-war-ii-tops-us-pc-chart] reports that Relic's RTS has stolen the top spot from Blizzard for the moment.

We'd crunch some numbers, but unfortunately, there don't seem to be any numbers to crunch. All that we know is that DoW2 took first, Lich King second, then a double helping of The Sims 2, Spore, and two more entries for World of Warcraft and its Battlechest. Heartening news for Relic, considering that DoW2 did what F.E.A.R. 2 failed to do last month.

The question is ... is this just a spike, with a hot new game moving quickly off shelves? Or will Dawn of War II have a longer presence on the list?


Permalink

 

[L33tsauce_Marty]

I predict it will be there for the long run.

 

[orangebandguy]

Good Good, no other RTS compared to the first Dawn of War and its expansions, so it's no suprise to see it have high sales figures for now.

 

[Jursa]

Ye it's nice but don't forget DoW2 doesn't have a monthly fee, it'll take a while before DoW2's sales reach the monthly payments made since WoTLK release.

 

[John Funk]

I'm predicting it'll be on the top ten for a while, though Lich King will probably reclaim the top spot within a week or three.

The real test is if it can hold up to that "other" sci-fi RTS...

Ye it's nice but don't forget DoW2 doesn't have a monthly fee, it'll take a while before DoW2's sales reach the monthly payments made since WoTLK release.

This is just copies sold per week. Not money made

 

[stormcaller]

No they fucking don't /end fanboy

Good on them, it's not like it's really that bad anyhow. I take it as just the WOTLK client if so then nowadays you can get it free from the WoW website so there's no need to buy it.

But still, 'twill be an interesting flame war *grabs Doomplate and Doomhammer* Lok'Tar Ogar!

 

[slackbheep]

Come (Wow'ers) show me what passes for fury among your misbegotten kind!

 

[Baconmonster723]

Hmmmmmmmmm Kudos to Relic for taking Blizzard's two best game ideas. Fantasy with orcs humans elves etc. (Warcraft) and putting them in space(Starcraft). I'm not gonna rip on them for doing this because clearly, it sells. However, don't read too much into these numbers. Comparing Warhammer and WOW is like comparing a Classic Game to Halo 3. While people look at Halo and go OMG HALO NEW SHINY, they play it and eventually get bored and go back to the classic game that never gets old. Once Starcraft II comes out, then one will see Blizzard's full capability shown. Now if only they would give us one of those..... damn can't remember what they are called for the life of me....... OH YEAH, a release date.

 

[Azaruss]

Bacon, are you just being sarcastic in your comment about Relic taking Blizzards ideas?

 

[elvor0]

Hmmmmmmmmm Kudos to Relic for taking Blizzard's two best game ideas. Fantasy with orcs humans elves etc. (Warcraft) and putting them in space(Starcraft). I'm not gonna rip on them for doing this because clearly, it sells. However, don't read too much into these numbers. Comparing Warhammer and WOW is like comparing a Classic Game to Halo 3. While people look at Halo and go OMG HALO NEW SHINY, they play it and eventually get bored and go back to the classic game that never gets old. Once Starcraft II comes out, then one will see Blizzard's full capability shown. Now if only they would give us one of those..... damn can't remember what they are called for the life of me....... OH YEAH, a release date.

Starcraft and Warcraft weren't Blizzards ideas, they were originally going to be Warhammer and Warhammer 40k games, but Games Workshop pulled the license at the last minute, so Blizzard quickly reshuffled it, and bam Starcraft.

Frankly I hate DoW 2 for not having Pixel Shader 2 support, damn thee relic and thou orsum game, why do you torment me so? *shakes fist*

 

[dekkarax]

Hmmmmmmmmm Kudos to Relic for taking Blizzard's two best game ideas. Fantasy with orcs humans elves etc. (Warcraft) and putting them in space(Starcraft). I'm not gonna rip on them for doing this because clearly, it sells. However, don't read too much into these numbers. Comparing Warhammer and WOW is like comparing a Classic Game to Halo 3. While people look at Halo and go OMG HALO NEW SHINY, they play it and eventually get bored and go back to the classic game that never gets old. Once Starcraft II comes out, then one will see Blizzard's full capability shown. Now if only they would give us one of those..... damn can't remember what they are called for the life of me....... OH YEAH, a release date.

I am afraid you are mistaken, it is t'other way round, Warcraft and Starcraft are actually pastiches of Warhammer and Warhammer 40k, which started in the eighties.

I hope you brought a helmet, because you have just done the equivalent of covering yourself in barbecue sauce and jumping into a piranha tank; prepare for a reckoning, the others will not be as forgiving as I am.

but anyway, back on topic- all together now: "BLOOD FOR THE BLOOD GOD!"
Oh Khorne, you master of subtlety.

 

[TsunamiWombat]

Hmmmmmmmmm Kudos to Relic for taking Blizzard's two best game ideas. Fantasy with orcs humans elves etc. (Warcraft) and putting them in space(Starcraft). I'm not gonna rip on them for doing this because clearly, it sells. However, don't read too much into these numbers. Comparing Warhammer and WOW is like comparing a Classic Game to Halo 3. While people look at Halo and go OMG HALO NEW SHINY, they play it and eventually get bored and go back to the classic game that never gets old. Once Starcraft II comes out, then one will see Blizzard's full capability shown. Now if only they would give us one of those..... damn can't remember what they are called for the life of me....... OH YEAH, a release date.

Penny Arcade explains it in 3 panels.

http://www.penny-arcade.com/comic/2006/04/10/

 

[nova18]

Its nice to see an RTS doing well, I always imagined that it was a niche market, but to outsell a WOW expansion is pretty impressive.

I'm gonna give it 3 weeks before WotLK is back up there though.

 

[Ursus Astrorum]

Hm... Looks like I'll be stopping by Gamestop this weekend. And I shall know no fear.

I just hope they come out with the I.G. expansion soon, I loves my Guardsmen.

 

[Ezzay]

I love dawn of war 2, its different.

I Hope it will be around for a long time.

And I also hope they don't repeat what they did last time, 100 expansions all adding another god damn race and a generic RISK type campaign.

 

[theultimateend]

Good Good, no other RTS compared to the first Dawn of War and its expansions, so it's no suprise to see it have high sales figures for now.

Considering the only thing similar between DoWI and DoWII is the universe they pan out in...

I'd say it is a surprise.

Be like saying "Well its obvious that beer sells so well, I mean water was doing fine before it." Yeah they both have similar traits but the success of one didn't exactly define the success of the other.

That said, I don't like DoWII (or beer) but I'm not going to shit on other people's fun, to each their own.

It's like when people say that Wii's aren't selling as well as they did a bit ago...yes...that's because everyone already has one and see's no need to buy another.

You can only sell so many copies of WoTLK before everyone playing has a copy. At that point the sales start going down and anything new with the slightest level of professionalism will take the spot. Even if only temporarily. I would theorize (and surely will get flamed for this) that DoWII will stop selling well once word gets out widely that its an entirely different game.

I'm actually surprised SPORE is still selling well, but I guess if the Jonas Brothers Concert can do well in theatres anything is possible.

 

[Nunka]

The question is ... is this just a spike, with a hot new game moving quickly off shelves? Or will Dawn of War II have a longer presence on the list?

Warhammer selling more copies in its first week than WOTLK in its fifteenth isn't exactly a great feat. Even considering the fact that World of Warcraft is effectively un-pirate-able, I'd have expected something like this to happen much sooner. Guess the PC really is dying as a platform. Woe. Woe to us.

 

[TomNook]

Come (Wow'ers) show me what passes for fury among your misbegotten kind!

We're all too busy playing WoW to care.