Star Wars Galaxies sales top a million units

Sony Online Entertainment's Star Wars based massively multiplayer title, Star Wars Galaxies, has now sold over a million units worldwide, the firm has announced - but unofficial estimates peg the subscriptions number far lower.

The PC-only MMOG launched in April 2003 but was met with harsh criticism of a number of issues with the game. Sales are thought to have picked up in recent months as more problems were ironed out, a new expansion pack (Rise of the Wookies) was launched and Star Wars hit the headlines once again with the launch of Episode III.

However, despite reaching the million unit mark, Star Wars Galaxies remains a minor player in the rapidly growing MMOG space, and according to unofficial estimates from MMOGChart.com, has under 250,000 active subscribers - representing only 2.8 per cent market share.

Given the strength of the Star Wars brand, the performance of the game is still slightly disappointing, especially given that rival MMOG World of Warcraft has recently announced that it has hit 2 million active subscribers - with a further 1.5 million players subscribing using a game hours purchase system in China.

However, Sony Online Entertainment - the firm behind groundbreaking MMOG Everquest - certainly has no intention of dropping its efforts on Star Wars Galaxies, and a range of new content has been announced for the title, including an expansion called Trials of Obi-Wan, which will tie in the game more deeply with events and locations in Star Wars Episode III.