while ending their final adventure in the town. Development Baldur's Gate: Tales of the Sword Coast began development in 1998. Mark Asher of CNET Gamecenter reported that it was already "several months" into production by January 1999. It was officially announced in early February. Tales of the Sword Coast went gold on April 26, 1999, and shipped to retailers on May 4. Reception Sales Tales of the Sword Coast debuted at #1 on PC Data's computer game sales chart during the May 2–8 period, and held the position the following week, but fell to #6 in its third week. The game remained in the top 10 for the entirety of May, and was the second-best-seller of the month overall, behind Star Wars: Episode I – The Phantom Menace. By the week ending June 12, the game had fallen off the weekly charts. However, it finished in 17th place on PC Data's monthly chart for June. In the United States alone, sales of Tales of the Sword Coast reached 156,000 copies by March 2000. By late 2003, global sales of Tales of the Sword Coast had surpassed 600,000 copies. Critical reviews The expansion was critically well received. In the review from GameSpot, the game was found to feature "some occasionally frustrating battles, adds only minor gameplay enhancements, and takes a few additional liberties with AD&D rules", but the new areas and game content were found to be well-designed and interesting. Computer Games Strategy Plus called it "a solid add-on to an excellent title", but complained that glitches occasionally caused the game to crash. According to GameSpy, "especially for new players, the 'add-in' structure would make an already rich experience richer, improving one's Baldur's Gate experience immeasurably". Tales of the Sword Coast won the Origins Awards for "Best Roleplaying Computer Game of 1999". It was a runner-up for Computer Games Strategy Pluss 1999 "Add-on of the Year" and GameSpot's "Best Expansion Pack" awards, but lost these prizes to Heroes of Might and Magic III: Armageddon's Blade and Half-Life: Opposing Force, respectively. References External links 1999 video games Tales of the Sword Coast Classic Mac OS games Cooperative video games Infinity Engine games Interplay Entertainment games Multiplayer and single-player video games Origins Award winners Role-playing video games Video game expansion packs Video games about cults Video games about demons Video games developed in Canada Video games featuring protagonists of selectable gender Video games