The Sims 2 hottest PC game in Canada in 2004

The Sims 2 from Electronic Arts was the top-selling PC video game in Canada in 2004, according to a survey of retail sales.

The game sold a total of 87,870 copies in Canada last year, says NPD Canada, which tracks retail game sales across the country.

The No. 2 spot when to Half Life 2, despite the fact that it only went on sale a few weeks before the end of the year. In total, NPD says 71,434 copies of Half Life 2 sold in 2004.

It was followed by World of Warcraft (71,034 copies), The Sims Deluxe (63,570 copies), and Doom 3 (61,024 copies).

Electronic Arts’ Battlefield Vietnam was No. 6, NHL Hockey 2004 was seventh, and the top 10 was rounded out by Warcraft III Battle Chest, Star Wars: Knights of the Old Republic and Call of Duty.

Computer and video game software sales set a new record in 2004, reaching $590.2-million (Cdn.), according to final data compiled by NPD Canada. Those figures are the equivalent of 29 video games selling every minute throughout the entire year.

According to the data compiled by NPD Canada, overall Canadian video game console software sales reached $377.4-million (8.7-million units), computer games sales were $139.1-million (4.6-million units), and $73.7-million (2.1-million units) in portable software sales. Those numbers don’t include hardware sales.

In terms of total units sold, approximately 15.4-million computer and video games were sold in 2004, nearly 1.5 games for every household in Canada.

By way of comparison, in 2003, Canadian video game console sales reached $321.2-million (6.7-million units), computer games sales were $137.5-million (4.1-million units), and portable software sales were $65.9-million (1.6-million units). In terms of total units sold, 12.4-million computer or video games were sold in 2003.

Video game players most often purchased action (31.6 per cent), sports (15.8 per cent), and shooter titles (11 per cent). Other top selling categories were role-playing games (10.9 per cent), racing titles (10.8 per cent), children and family entertainment titles (6.6 per cent), and fighting games (4.6 per cent).

Computer gamers most often purchased strategy games (26.2 per cent), shooter games (18.7 per cent) and family and children’s entertainment games (11.4 per cent), followed by role-playing games (10.9 per cent), sports games (9.4 per cent), adventure games (7.3 per cent), and racing games (4.8 per cent).

In December, one of the key selling months for retailers, the top PC game spot went to Half-Life 2. World of Warcraft was second, The Sims 2 was third, followed by Lord of the Rings: Battle for Middle Earth and Microsoft’s Zoo Tycoon 2. Need for Speed Underground 2 was sixth, followed by NHL Hockey 2005, Medal of Honor: Pacific Assault, Grand Theft Auto: Vice City and Microsoft Flight Simulator 2004: A Century of Flight.

NPD Group Canada released the figures from its monthly survey of video game sales at retail outlets across the country. It did not specify how many of each game sold.