Anno 1800 is the fastest selling game in the 20-year-old series

Anno 1800 has become the city-building series' fastest-selling game, Ubisoft has announced. In its first week, it's sold more than four times the number of copies than its predecessor, Anno 2205. It's also quite a bit better.

Ubisoft hasn't shared player numbers, but we do know that they've brought almost seven billion citizens to their islands. In 1800, the world's actual population has been estimated to be fewer than a billion, rising past it by 1900. It's certainly a lot fewer settlers than are living on Anno's islands. We're changing history, people. 

Players have also constructed more than 10 million ships and a billion grain fields, while they've settled more than three million islands.  

Here's what Rick Lane had to say in his Anno 1800 review

Anno 1800 is a rich and sumptuous city-builder, easily the grandest and deepest Anno to date. Its early game is a wonderfully relaxing experience, while the later stages will have you scratching your mutton-chops and happily stretching your braces in equal measure. 

I'm still playing through the campaign myself, and I expect it has many more hours of expansion and management to offer me before I'm done. Sometimes I fire it up just to watch my little settlements working away like gorgeous clockwork machines, churning out food and glass and metal to power and fund my burgeoning business empire. I'd probably be further along if I wasn't busy taking pretty screenshots. 

Fraser Brown
Online Editor

Fraser is the UK online editor and has actually met The Internet in person. With over a decade of experience, he's been around the block a few times, serving as a freelancer, news editor and prolific reviewer. Strategy games have been a 30-year-long obsession, from tiny RTSs to sprawling political sims, and he never turns down the chance to rave about Total War or Crusader Kings. He's also been known to set up shop in the latest MMO and likes to wind down with an endlessly deep, systemic RPG. These days, when he's not editing, he can usually be found writing features that are 1,000 words too long or talking about his dog.