World of Warcraft is an unstoppable juggernaut that could very well destroy the world as we know it (and no, I don't feel fine). Seriously though, it certainly is building up the computer gaming industry again.

From the article:

In January, NPD Funworld reported that, after sliding in 2005, PC gaming had bounced back in 2006. According to the industry research group, last year some $970 million worth of boxed PC games were sold in the US, up from $953 million the previous year.

Now, 2007 appears to be shaping up as a banner year for PC gaming. A recent New York Times article (registration required) cites NPD figures showing that $203 million of PC games were sold at US retailers through the end of February. That's a 48 percent increase over the $136.9 million generated during the same two-month period in 2006. (NPD had not provided said numbers to GameSpot directly as of press time.)

While impressive, the NPD PC numbers represent only a fraction of revenue being generated by PC games, as they do not include online transactions. Most significantly, the figures also don't include subscription fees for massively multiplayer online role-playing games such as World of Warcraft, which currently has over 8.5 million paying subscribers.

Read the full article over at gamespot.com