UK Games Charts: 18/03/13 – Tomb Raider Holds On, Kratos Fended Off

The, really rather good, Tomb Raider reboot has held on to the top spot this week. That’s in spite of stiff competition from God of War: Ascension and Starcraft II: Heart of the Swarm. The latter probably sold a great deal of its numbers digitally via BattleNet though, and those figures are not accounted for in this chart.

Tomb Raider’s ability to hold on at number one was also despite sales of the game being down by 72 per cent on last week.

Sniper: Ghost Warrior completes the high flying new entries, in at number four. The rest of the top ten is relatively predictable with SimCity clinging on in fifth before FIFA, Far Cry 3, Crysis 3 and Black Ops II fill out the spots before The Sims 3: University Life in tenth.

God of War: Ascension doesn’t seem to have seen the same kind of marketing that its predecessor had but it’s still got to be a little bit disappointing for Sony Santa Monica that it managed fewer than half the week one sales that God of War III racked up. It’s not really surprising, given the timing and the profile of Ascension, but still…

It’ll be interesting to see how another platform-exclusive, fourth in the main series spin off fares next week when Gears of War Judgment goes on sale.

Here’s the top twenty, the top 40 is available from UKIE:

1. TOMB RAIDER – SQUARE ENIX EUROPE
2. GOD OF WAR: ASCENSION – SONY COMPUTER ENT.
3. STARCRAFT II: HEART OF THE SWARM – ACTIVISION BLIZZARD
4. SNIPER: GHOST WARRIOR 2 – CITY INTERACTIVE
5. SIMCITY – ELECTRONIC ARTS
6. FIFA 13 – ELECTRONIC ARTS
7. FAR CRY 3 – UBISOFT
8. CRYSIS 3 – ELECTRONIC ARTS
9. CALL OF DUTY:BLACK OPS II – ELECTRONIC ARTS
10. THE SIMS 3: UNIVERSITY LIFE – ELECTRONIC ARTS
11. ASSASSIN’S CREED III – UBISOFT
12. HITMAN ABSOLUTION – SQUARE ENIX EUROPE
13. SKYLANDERS GIANTS – ACTIVISION BLIZZARD
14. NEED FOR SPEED MOST WANTED- ELECTRONIC ARTS
15. DEAD SPACE 3 – ELECTRONIC ARTS
16. THE ELDER SCROLLS V: SKYRIM – BETHESDA SOFTWORKS
17. LEGO BATMAN 2: DC SUPER HEROES – WARNER BROS. INTERACTIVE
18. GRAND THEFT AUTO IV – TAKE 2
19. METAL GEAR RISING: REVENGEANCE – KONAMI
20. NARUTO SHIPPUDEN: ULTIMATE NINJA STORM 3 – NAMCO BANDAI GAMES