Bethesda Softworks announced that its hit title, The Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion has achieved record sales, reflecting huge market demand for the title. Over 1.7 million units of Oblivion for the PC and Xbox 360 have been shipped since the launch of the game.
In North America, Oblivion has become the fastest selling game released on the Xbox 360. The NPD Group Inc reports Oblivion PC as the best selling PC game, while the Oblivion Collectors Edition is ranked number 2. NPD reports that Oblivion represented approximately 13% of all PC game sales in the first week of its release, more than four times the sales volume of the next best selling title. (The Elder Scrolls III: Morrowind, the highly-regarded predecessor to Oblivion, remains one of the top 25 best selling PC games nearly four years after its release, according to NPD).
European results have been similarly strong with Oblivion quickly becoming ranked the number one selling title in the UK, Germany and France.
Oblivion has earned high praise and awards from publications around the world. Official Xbox Magazine (US) gave Oblivion a 9.5 out of 10 and an Editor’s Choice award, calling Oblivion “An Absolute Masterpiece.” PC Gamer (US) awarded it an Editor’s Choice Award and a score of 95%, calling it “a classic” and “one of the best RPGs ever made.” And the largest circulation gaming magazine in the world, Game Informer, gave Oblivion 9.5 out of 10 and said, “The bar for the next generation of RPGs has just been set.”
Reaction around the world has been equally laudatory. Oblivion has been featured on more than 30 magazine covers in the US, UK, France, Italy, Spain, Australia, Benelux, and other countries. The leading PC game magazine in Great Britain rated it a “Must Buy” and said Oblivion “is one of those rare and wonderful treats of gaming that’s so recklessly ambitious and staggeringly accomplished that it makes even great games…seem small-minded and clumsy by comparison.”
Oblivion is currently the #1 ranked Xbox 360 game and the #1 ranked PC game on both MetaCritic.com and GameRankings.com. MetaCritic and GameRankings are sites that calculate a ranking of games based on review scores published by recognized print, broadcast, and online media outlets around the world.
