Mass Effect Series Sells Over 7 Million Copies

The posters over at NeoGAF are claiming that the latest issue of PS3M has word that BioWare’s Mass Effect series has now sold over seven million copies worldwide. It’s unclear if that number includes free copies of Mass Effect 2 given away to Dragon Age II owners or even downloads of Mass Effect Galaxy for the iPhone, though.

Either way, that number seems a bit low to me considering the insane amount of money that’s been poured into its marketing and the simple fact that the “series” is now available across a total of four platforms. Shouldn’t a highly rated series from a well-respected developer like BioWare be way past seven million copies after almost 4 years of availability and multiple sub-$10 sales?

If these sales numbers are indeed correct, then I simply don’t understand why so many developers are eschewing traditional RPG elements these days. Fallout: New Vegas and Dragon Age: Origins are probably the best RPG examples from the past few years, and they both sold 5 million copies and 3.2 million copies, respectively, in a matter of weeks. Hell, even Two Worlds II reached the 2-million-sold milestone shortly after its release. Wouldn’t that suggest that traditional triple-A RPGs sell better than hybrids built for mass appeal?

It just doesn’t make sense to me.