"The point is that very few good, original games do well."

Your 'point' is wrong and has been proven so. You attempted to dismiss the games that I suggested without any thought behind your arguments.

Battlefield 1942 - Online WWII FPS? Online WWII game, yes, certainly. It is not, however and never has been simply an 'fps'. It's a vehicular based game and anyone that has really played it knows that.

Dungeon Keeper - Read closer next time. Not Dungeon Siege, Dungeon Keeper. Great game by Bullfrog, incredibly inventive and sold well enough to have a sequel that also sold well.

Black and White - Cry all you want about how much you dislike the game, it sold very well and it was an innovative game, bringing new concepts to a genre that had all but vanished before it came out.

Savage - Not #1, but well enough that most people know what it is. Again, cry all you want about how much you dislike it, it is an innovative concept that sold well in the marketplace. Games don't need to hit uber status like BF1942 and Half-life to consider themselves successful.

The point is that while you may not like a game, that does not mean it is a bad game. Your opinion doesn't mean squat when it comes down to the number of units sold and profit made. Remember that. These games sold because people liked them. They sold because they were unique for one reason or another. They sold because they added something to their respective genres rather than just rehashing the same crap.