In spite of some pretty damning analysis, ANTHEM soared straight to the number one spot in the UK's weekly retail chart. BioWare's looter shooter released to a rather cold reception, and even though it's atop the chart, it appears to have underperformed. The developer's last game, Mass Effect: Andromeda, sold more than double in its first week, and Destiny managed about ten times as much within the same timeframe. As always, it's important to remember this chart doesn't take digital sales into consideration.
With a big new release hitting store shelves, it's only natural the other titles move down to make room. Far Cry: New Dawn continues to sell well in second place, while chart mainstays like FIFA 19 and Red Dead Redemption 2 are still within the top five. Jump Force perhaps suffers the largest drop, going from its number four debut to number 17. Large new releases are beginning to slow down now, so don't expect too much to change until Devil May Cry 5 and The Division 2 arrive in March.
UK Sales Charts: Week Ending 23rd February, 2019
- ANTHEM
- Far Cry: New Dawn
- FIFA 19
- Red Dead Redemption 2
- Metro: Exodus
- Forza Horizon 6
- New Super Mario Bros. U Deluxe
- Mario Kart 8 Deluxe
- Call of Duty: Black Ops 4
- Super Smash Bros. Ultimate
[source gamesindustry.biz]
Comments 17
RIP BioWare. You will be missed.
I just noticed on Amazon that its price seems to have dropped to £39 (am sure it was slightly more at launch - though don't quote me on that). Do you think we'll see discounts in the next few weeks?
just shows that if you time it right, you can have a #1 selling game...
I must admit that I pre-ordered Anthem but haven't got round to starting it yet...
Incidentally, I think Number 6 should be Forza Horizon 4 - I know MS have released a LOT of Forza games, but they aren't up to number 6 in the Forza series yet...
Trying not to sound like I'm defending ANTHEM too much, but a physical copy would have the sole function of a door wedge in the future, so digital makes the most sense with the low/no resale value after time. Certainly bought mine digitally.
@Shellcore Even if you double its sales and assume Mass Effect and Destiny didn't sell any digital copies at all, I'm certain it's still below EA's expectations.
Both Resident Evil 2 & Kingdom Hearts 3 had bigger launches than Anthem in the UK.
What a time to be alive.
@Rudy_Manchego - quite likely i think. it was already heavily discounted for pre-order in some places - £31 on shopto for example. retailers possibly worried about having over-ordered for launch based on demand til that point. i'd imagine if the game doesn't have much legs, it'll be on sale sooner rather than later.
The plight continues, game developers become businesses with no soul, exist to make money instead of games, let the actual TALENT go and then are surprised the game is a mess with no personality or future.
Bioware doesn't make another ME or satisfying DA, because they can't. The people that made those games what they are are gone now.
@Octane It's a sad state of affairs. That's for sure. EA's expectations for a new IP, particularly one which didn't end up reviewing well, are a massive over-assumption. Surprised Destiny didn't do more digitally to be fair.
@Rudy_Manchego Yeah, it's dropped even lower since you posted. Down to £35 on Amazon right now and around £30 on other sites like ShopTo.
@Rudy_Manchego Media Markt in Germany was selling it for €39 on launch day.
It’ll probably be bundled with FIFA within a month.
@Fight_Sora_Fight You'll get a free copy of Fallout 76 AND Anthem with your new hard drive
@Fight_Sora_Fight @Jake3103 @leucocyte Wowzer - you are right, the price is literally dropping as we speak, probably in reaction to the sales figures getting published.
I do agree that digital is probably going to be bigger for this game than physical but even so...
@Octane Honestly I’m actually pretty impressed & proud, that my fellow Germans are: 1) Somewhat informed when making purchasing decisions & 2) Refuse to buy garbage. 😂
FC:ND would have sold around 15k copies last week and Anthem around 40k. just imagine the impact on those numbers if sony had stuck to their guns and released days gone last week.
Shame really as I'm enjoying it for what it is. So much negativity surrounding this game not sure it will recover sales wise.
@Neolit I'm not sure if it will, don't think EA games appear on PS+ anymore cos of the disagreement over EA Access.
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