Who wants to sell a million?

Pop quiz hotshot, name the first game to sell over million copies in the UK?

Posted by Staff
Eidos’s quiz/TV tie in, Who Wants to be a Millionaire has broken all records by becoming the first game to sell a million copies in the UK. And it only took 121 days to achieve this. It has been estimated that this title has generated almost £29 million pounds of revenue for the video game industry, which will be music to the ears of troubles Eidos’ shareholders. The feat is all the more amazing considering that there is currently slump in the market, caused by machines like the N64 reaching the end of their lifespan, and consumers waiting for Playstation 2 and Xbox.

According to ChartTrack, Who Wants to be a Millionaire (WWTBAM) has sold a staggering 624,000 copies on PlayStation, 347,000 on PC and 39,000 on the Dreamcast. This is not surprising considering that the game successfully captures the compelling elements of the hit television series. WWTBAM is a fantastic party game that can be played by four people simultaneously in the Faster Finger First mode. Not only is this a fun game to play but it also is educational and could drastically increase your general knowledge. With over 100,000 questions in the game it is unlikely that you will get the same question twice.

The game’s success shows the mainstream penetration that video games have managed in recent years, when you consider than no computer version of Trivial Pursuit ever managed a similar success despite the board game’s epidemic popularity.

Eidos is hoping to repeat the success of WWTBAM with a sequel and a Game Boy Color version planned. Several international versions are in the works and there are even rumours of subject specific versions dealing with topics such as music films and sport. After the success of the title maybe it’s time for a Video Games themed edition!

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