Every year, there's always one day when a huge amount of AAA titles all release at once. The 2022 version saw Need for Speed Unbound, The Callisto Protocol, and Marvel's Midnight Suns all come out on 2nd December 2022, and not all of them have gotten off to the best of starts in the UK sales-wise. Talking physical copies alone, the latest NFS racer only manages 17th place after recording a 64 per cent drop in purchases compared to 2019's Need for Speed Heat.
Marvel's Midnight Suns then performed even worse, with a debut position of 26th. The Callisto Protocol team Striking Distance Studios will be happier with its sales, though, as the new IP makes sixth place in its first week on the market. The boxed PS5 version made up 74 per cent of purchases.
As for other PS5, PS4 games, God of War Ragnarok experienced a seven per cent rise in physical sales to see it make third, while FIFA 23 and Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2 retain first and second respectively. The fan favourite Sonic Frontiers then manages to stay in the top 10 in ninth place.
Here's the latest top 10 in full.
UK Sales Charts: Week Ending 3rd December 2022
- FIFA 23
- Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2
- God of War Ragnarok
- Mario Kart 8 Deluxe
- Pokémon Violet
- The Callisto Protocol
- Pokémon Scarlet
- Nintendo Switch Sports
- Sonic Frontiers
- Animal Crossing: New Horizons
[source gamesindustry.biz]
Comments 41
Ooof not a good look for NSF especially now it has rather good review.
There's a few reasons why nfs is so low, 1 lack of reviews before release. But any reviews out there seem to be decent so , (also for protocol) and 2 I think that anime stuff put alot of people off like myself and 3 lots of competition on that date,.and when a racer hasn't had a good track record lately then comes with something new no surprise people will pass it up or wait til later
The Callisto Protocol getting 6th is pretty decent for a game that most people are saying it's okay at best, though it will probably have a heavy drop week by week. NFS is a series where you don't know what to expect quality-wise. I haven't picked up an NFS for a while but I played Heat when it was on PS Plus and really enjoyed it, then I completely forgot a new one is releasing. Midnight Suns' most significant problem has been the marketing I think. When they announced it, people thought it was Marvel's XCOM, and then it showed the weird card mechanics, announcing DLC way before launch, then to top it off I thought only the PC version of the game was launching this year, not the current-gen versions too. If they just said it's Marvel blended with Fire Emblem, I'll probably pick it up sooner and not wait for a sale.
Nice to see GoW in the top 3.
Can’t say I saw any marketing for NFS before release, was there any? Saw an infinite amount of Callisto ads on YouTube in the week leading up to release.
I mean the main reason is probably the cost of living in the UK and no one is able to afford full price games at moment.
I got a random Amazon voucher so I've been able to enjoy the Calisto Protocol this week.
Massively enjoying it so far, right up my street!
@TripleKing333 this time EA released the new Need for Speed with minimal coverage across the media, I guess.
@GuttyYZ I think the main reason is probably more people want to play the games that are higher on the list and fewer want to play NFS and Midnight Suns 😬
Does anyone know why Marvel's Midnight Suns did so badly? It's getting great reviews, and the Marvel name tends to provide a boost to a lot of titles
NFS U is PS5 only, this coupled with poor marketing in a saturated genre didn't help.
Midnight Suns performance is actually insane. 26th would suggest well under 1k retail copies sold at launch.
Same with NFS the one time EA push the boat out a bit & it’s a disaster.
Happy for Callisto. The game seems fun enough & looks great. Worried about the studio at first, but it seemed to have launched pretty strong on steam & PS so they should be good.
@BranJ0 PC is its primary market, although it’s performing poorly on Steam too, but will probably have long legs
I’ve only heard good things about NFS so it’s a bit disheartening to see how badly it’s doing.
Those GoW PS5 bundles are obviously hitting shelves?
Nintendo ruling the roost thanks to affordable hardware in stock.
Did give need for speed a go on series s, didnt really enjoy it tbh, made me feel old with the dialouge. Controls were a ok, looked decent but not amazing, will carry on with the trial to see if it gets better, but better than it has been in previous games. Glad to see castillo in top 10, really enjoying it so far, think im nearing the end, tip for anyone change the movement sensitivity as when you start it feels very stiff, soon as i changed it made it so much better. Also the audio with headphones is up there with the best ive heard amazing, story is decent, at moment id say 7 or 8 for me
@Uromastryx
Pretty sure they said prior to release that you can turn “that anime stuff” off. But I don’t think it would have put many people off to be fair. I actually thought it was a good style. I didn’t buy it because It looked like every other NFS gameplay wise.
Hopefully ea will stop making all these nfs games and give us a new burnout.
@BranJ0 niche genre I imagine
@sanderson72 those cod & fifa bundles are hitting the shelves too 😂
I regret buying callisto protocol
@TripleKing333 i dont recall seeing a single advert for nfs on YouTube or sites for that matter. Think Ea have done them dirty on this one. Hopefully Dead Space gets good marketing tho
Midnight Suns bombed!
Are these articles a bit pointless really as it doesn't give a true reflection of all sales only physical?
NFS is a dying franchise.
I didn't even realised NFS U was already released. But after NFS Heat paywalls fiasco, people are heavily cautious about new installment...
Callisto Protocol aka Dead Space copy is not for masses, so it is rather wonder they made it to top10.
Midnights Sunz is heavily overpriced and everybody waits for complete edition for acceptable price.
Anyway Christmas is comming so we should expect weird leaders of top10 like Fifa, Gta5, CoD, GoW2 or similar evergreens.
get2sammyb wrote:
Did you see the videos on the woeful characterisation & dialogue? e.g. https://youtu.be/zd3-qR0jKKY?t=1022 Can't have helped. Amazingly he recommended (half) the game despite this woeful high-school-teen-angst-ification of Marvel superheroes. But even if the gameplay is really really good, that made it a hard pass for me.
Oh wow, I didn't expect NFS to be that low.
Normally I buy physical copies as I’m just old school like that and prefer the physical media for some reason. But this time around I picked up The Callisto Protocol digitally. I’m enjoying it overall but the reviews putting it somewhere around a 7.5 or so are bang on. I suppose I could have waited for a sale but I’m absolutely happy to support a new studio trying to fill that Dead Space void since EA essentially murdered the franchise.
Guys let's have a little perspective....they've only been released for 2 days ! What are people expecting?
Surely it's better to judge sales numbers next week?
And physical sales numbers are completely irrelevant now
@Bagwag82 ...totally
@helloim_anthony stick with it. More free updates coming and dlc. It'll be worth it overall.
I knew God of War: Ragnarök was going to be a hit. Really hoping Sonic Frontiers can post strong sales when it's all said and done. The game does have its flaws but overall it's been some of the most fun I've had gaming all year.
Marvel fans not being particularly interested in tactical SRPG's or deck builders comes at no surprise, really. What are they gonna try to sell them next... books?
Sonic Frontiers was half off on all platforms and only hit 9th? Lol!
What's even more baffling about NFS' physical sales' performance is that it's typically £55 at retailers compared to £70 digitally. So if you have the pregnant PS5, that's an easy choice imho.
@Marquez "pregnant PS5" - brilliant!
I'm so hoping that the redesign will be less of an eyesore and somewhat smaller than the current tower of lard.
@sanderson72 I have a soft spot for the design of my tower of lard, though I think I'm finally going to cave after two years and get some black faceplates to slim it down a touch!
@Daleaf "made me feel old with the dialouge.". Yep. That's an instant turn off for me.
@Perturbator 🤣
@Gloamin I'd have thought the opposite tbh, £70 was crazy for this when you could get it what...£15-20 lower physically. I can't see many shelling out that much given the series reputation of late. More likely to try physical then at least you can get your money back
Shame for NFS but they shot themselves in the foot. I've seen zero advertising and the 'effects' put a hell of lot of people off. Most still aren't aware you can turn them off as well. Sad really as it's the best NFS I've played since the 2000s
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