UK Charts: Christmas Number One Revealed
Big games take top spots – multiformat releases power through.
Electronic Arts has clinched the top spot this Christmas, fending off strong competition from all sides and defeating Rockstar’s drip-feed policy of San Andreas allocation at retail.
Again, EA’s Need for Speed Underground has proved irresistible to gamers in the UK, with it’s Gran Turismo-lite policy attracting massive support. Although the game is little more than a huge collection of other people’s ideas, the rekindled franchise, that had been all but forgotten by EA, has seen possibly the strongest brand renaissance in gaming history – unarguably impressive.
San Andreas’ lure is still evident, with the game remaining in the number two slot. Many observers have been impressed at the over-18 support the games industry can muster over such a sustained period, although sales dropped by around 10% in week-on-week comparisons.
Activision's attempt at repeating EA's feat last year with a yuletide FPS wargame nearly paid off as Call Of Duty: Finest Hour, released on all home consoles, manages a respectable third place in the chart with sales jumping 15%, no doubt thanks to an astute, if expensive marketing campaign.
The Incredibles, FIFA 2005, Prince of Persia 2 and Pro Evo 4 take slots four, five, six and seven respectively.
The all-important week 51 reveals the biggest sales week of the year so far with units climbing 12% overall to reach over 2.2 million. However, this is actually down 9.6% on this week last year (units) and over 13% down in value - translating into a shortfall through the ChartTrack panel of 242,000 units and £8.1m over last year week-on-week.
This shortfall is certainly due to massive console hardware shortages, particularly on the major formats PS2 and Xbox. Compared to week 51 last year, hardware units sales figures show PS2 is down by 23.5% with Xbox sales down by one half. GameCube is down 64%. However, Nintendo need not be downhearted as GBA SP hardware sales are up 22% compared to the same week last year.
Back to software, and platform market shares see PS2 climbing 16% over last week, totalling over 1.2m units and 53.1% of all software units. PC takes second with 21.6% of units (up 13%) followed by Xbox with 11.2% (up 1%). Gameboy Advance is fourth with 8.1% (down 1%) while poor relation Gamecube comes in last with 3.2% (up 11%). Software sales for the year so far are now up 6.7% (units) and 8.3% (value) compared with the same 51 weeks in 2003.
Again, EA’s Need for Speed Underground has proved irresistible to gamers in the UK, with it’s Gran Turismo-lite policy attracting massive support. Although the game is little more than a huge collection of other people’s ideas, the rekindled franchise, that had been all but forgotten by EA, has seen possibly the strongest brand renaissance in gaming history – unarguably impressive.
San Andreas’ lure is still evident, with the game remaining in the number two slot. Many observers have been impressed at the over-18 support the games industry can muster over such a sustained period, although sales dropped by around 10% in week-on-week comparisons.
Activision's attempt at repeating EA's feat last year with a yuletide FPS wargame nearly paid off as Call Of Duty: Finest Hour, released on all home consoles, manages a respectable third place in the chart with sales jumping 15%, no doubt thanks to an astute, if expensive marketing campaign.
The Incredibles, FIFA 2005, Prince of Persia 2 and Pro Evo 4 take slots four, five, six and seven respectively.
The all-important week 51 reveals the biggest sales week of the year so far with units climbing 12% overall to reach over 2.2 million. However, this is actually down 9.6% on this week last year (units) and over 13% down in value - translating into a shortfall through the ChartTrack panel of 242,000 units and £8.1m over last year week-on-week.
This shortfall is certainly due to massive console hardware shortages, particularly on the major formats PS2 and Xbox. Compared to week 51 last year, hardware units sales figures show PS2 is down by 23.5% with Xbox sales down by one half. GameCube is down 64%. However, Nintendo need not be downhearted as GBA SP hardware sales are up 22% compared to the same week last year.
Back to software, and platform market shares see PS2 climbing 16% over last week, totalling over 1.2m units and 53.1% of all software units. PC takes second with 21.6% of units (up 13%) followed by Xbox with 11.2% (up 1%). Gameboy Advance is fourth with 8.1% (down 1%) while poor relation Gamecube comes in last with 3.2% (up 11%). Software sales for the year so far are now up 6.7% (units) and 8.3% (value) compared with the same 51 weeks in 2003.
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Comments
SPInGSPOnG 21 Dec 2004 18:16
1/3
This is getting out of control. EA are demolishing the entire industry. They used to be such a good company, but now they are the evil face of corporate gaming... knocking out shoddy sequel ofter shoddy sequel.
And Need for Speed is just dire.
Still the public gets what the public wants. But I want nothing this society's got.
And Need for Speed is just dire.
Still the public gets what the public wants. But I want nothing this society's got.
kid_77 22 Dec 2004 11:48
2/3
Although I'm technically a part of it; the general public is rubbish.
Kaxxx 22 Dec 2004 12:54
3/3
The usual EA crap every year. Never played the game to be honest and dont have any want to so im hardly one to talk but the market is flooded with EA stuff at the moment. Mediocre stuff at that.
Pay no attention to these sales though as its so similar to the UK charts. Full of teenage crap!
Sorry to any teenagers reading this. :D
Pay no attention to these sales though as its so similar to the UK charts. Full of teenage crap!
Sorry to any teenagers reading this. :D