NPD Fallout: Did UT3 Find a Home on PS3?
By Patrick Klepek
January 18, 2008

Gears of War sold in the millions, but that didn't translate to similarly spectacular sales of Epic Games' next title, Unreal Tournament III. Of course, there could be a few of reasons for that -- for example, the sheer amount of multiplayer shooters this holiday season could simply be too much of a good thing and PC owners may not actually care about Gears of War.

Either way, it resulted in Epic and Midway seeing only 86,633 units of UT3 on PC moving by the end of November. There are fewer complications on the PlayStation 3, where UT3 landed just a few weeks before Christmas. Midway had advised the media and shareholders the title could slip into early 2008, but Epic cranked away, putting the game on shelves by December 11. While technically before Christmas, by that date, most consumers have either purchased or printed out shopping lists for what they need to pick up in time for the holidays -- would UT3 have time to make an impact?

It certainly made a bigger impact than its PC counterpart, anyway. The NPD Group tells us UT3 sold 113,000 copies on PS3 in December. That's just under what Uncharted: Drake's Fortune managed in November (117,000) and above Ratchet & Clank Future: Tools of Destruction's numbers in October (74,500).

1UP contacted Epic Games VP Mark Rein for comment, but we've yet to hear back. We're curious, though, whether the more encouraging sales on PS3 will shift Epic's focus away from the struggling PC SKU. Responding to user questions in a blog for Guardian Unlimited, Rein brushed away concerns about the PC version's sales.

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