How new MMO Aion topped PC sales its first month

Aion, which has been a smash hit in Korea since it launched, outsold every other PC game in its debut month, landing atop the NPD PC sales charts.

UPDATE: We just received word back from NCSoft about Aion's blockbuster debut, and incorporated their quotes into the article.

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Over the past year, Aion, a massively-multiplayer online game developed by NCSoft (the team behind the Lineage series), has been winning awards and garnering customers throughout Asia, leading up to a US release last month. The fever has apparently crossed the ocean, as Aion was listed as the number one selling PC game in the month of September, according to the NPD in their sales report released today. The collector's edition of the game ranked fifth. While NCSoft does not have exact numbers for the US, Ryan James, Director of Corporate Communications for NCSoft said that "Aion is nearing a million unit sales for both North America and Europe."

Despite coming out three weeks into the month, Aion managed to outsell perennial PC MMO powerhouse World of Warcraft, as well as last-month's best-seller, The Sims 3. According to James, even NCSoft was surprised by the results, stating "The response we?ve seen from players and critics has absolutely exceeded our expectations. The amount of time players are playing speaks to the success and popularity of the game, as they are clocking long play times."

NCSoft did, however, prepare that game extensively for US release. "With Aion, our goal from the beginning was to create a game that would appeal to a global audience." James said. "We saw Aion do very well when it launched in Korea and worked hard to make it relevant to Western audiences while retaining the heart and soul of the original experience. At the end of the day, it's about delivering a compelling game that accommodates all levels of play and keeps people coming back for more."

Time will tell whether Aion can keep up the impressive sales figures, but if this trend continues, the US MMO marketplace may be heading in a very new direction. According to James, NCSoft isn't resting on it's first-month laurels.

"We recognize we?ve got a long way to go and are working hard on future updates to the game." James said. "We?ve learned a lot with this launch and continue to listen to player feedback as we tweak and refine the experience. Needless to say, there?s more to come!

Here are this month's complete sales results. Last month's rankings are in parenthesis.