Big sales / mainstream appeal =/= height of innovation and creativity.

World of Warcraft, for instance, is the best selling MMORPG of all time. A lot of that is Blizzard's reputation and the fact that when MMORPG's get really big, they stay really big because most people thinking about joining an MMORPG want to join the one all their friends are on. Mass marketing helped. I would say it is not the best MMORPG I played in terms of a game design standpoint. It was custom designed from day one to be a money milker.

And the storyline... gagh! Half of it is just a rearrangement of elements of Starcraft's storyline and Lord of the Rings. The other half is this Tolkeinesuqe horrid "lore" where someone using a name generator came up with stories about Nazgugiglgiguguiaodugglkgj lifted the cursed skull of the OverLich and used it to raise his armies from the frozen throne, and reconquer the now tainted power of the world tree rootstone!!!

It gave me a headache even trying to get into the "lore" of WOW.

I would bet checkers is a vastly more played game than Stratego. But it's neither more fun nor more interesting to play. It's just easy to learn and fun enough for people to pass it along and teach the game to others.

Going by sales is not the standard I use. By that standard McDonald's mkaes the best hamburgers and Domino's or whoever makes the best pizza. Laughable. But you do get constant sales quotes if you so much as lift a syllable against Blizzard games around Blizzard fans.