If you’re wondering where all the hype has been for Bethesda and Arkane Studios’ Prey, you’re not the only one. I’ve not really noticed a big push in the last week or two, and their now entrenched review policy means that review code only went out alongside the game’s launch and we’ll be seeing reviews land this week.
From what we’ve played, it’s a very good game, but that will likely have contributed to the game’s inability to overtake Mario Kart 8 Deluxe at the top of the UK’s retail charts, despite a big 71% drop off for Nintendo’s game. While we don’t know the individual figures, Mario Kart 8 was 600 units ahead, but you do have to take into account that on a slow week it only takes a couple thousand copies to get onto the UK charts. On the other hand, we don’t know digital sales figures which would have almost certainly shifted the balance in Prey’s favour with combined sales across three platforms.
Looking back to April, it seems that it was a relatively subdued month overall. Despite having just three days of sales, Mario Kart 8 Deluxe topped the retail charts for the whole of April. It was followed by Ghost Recon Wildlands in second, while Persona 5 could only muster 7th behind Breath of the Wild and Yooka-Laylee and Sniper: Ghost Warrior 3 traipsed along back in 17th and 18th.
First up the top 20 for the first week of May:
| LW | TW | Title | Publisher |
| 1 | 1 | MARIO KART 8 DELUXE | NINTENDO |
| NE | 2 | PREY | BETHESDA SOFTWORKS |
| 3 | 3 | GRAND THEFT AUTO V | ROCKSTAR |
| 8 | 4 | CALL OF DUTY: INFINITE WARFARE | ACTIVISION |
| 6 | 5 | LEGO WORLDS | WARNER BROS. |
| 11 | 6 | ROCKET LEAGUE | 505 GAMES |
| 5 | 7 | ZELDA: BREATH OF THE WILD | NINTENDO |
| 9 | 8 | FIFA 17 | EA SPORTS |
| 10 | 9 | HORIZON ZERO DAWN | SONY COMPUTER ENT. |
| 12 | 10 | FORZA HORIZON 3 | MICROSOFT |
| 7 | 11 | GHOST RECON WILDLANDS | UBISOFT |
| 4 | 12 | LITTLE NIGHTMARES | BANDAI NAMCO |
| 2 | 13 | SNIPER: GHOST WARRIOR 3 | CI GAMES |
| 16 | 14 | LEGO CITY UNDERCOVER | WARNER BROS. |
| 17 | 15 | OVERWATCH | BLIZZARD |
| 22 | 16 | WWE 2K17 | 2K |
| 13 | 17 | MASS EFFECT: ANDROMEDA | EA GAMES |
| 15 | 18 | HALO 5: GUARDIANS | MICROSOFT |
| 20 | 19 | TOM CLANCY’S RAINBOW 6: SIEGE | UBISOFT |
| 21 | 20 | MINECRAFT: XBOX EDITION | MICROSOFT |
And then the chart for the month of April as a whole:
| Title | Publisher | |
| 1 | Mario Kart 8 Deluxe | Nintendo |
| 2 | Ghost Recon: Wildlands | Ubisoft |
| 3 | Grand Theft Auto V | Rockstar |
| 4 | LEGO Worlds | Warner Bros. |
| 5 | FIFA 17 | EA |
| 6 | Zelda: Breath of the Wild | Nintendo |
| 7 | Persona 5 | Atlus / Deep Silver |
| 8 | Call of Duty: Infinite Warfare | Activision |
| 9 | Mass Effect: Andromeda | EA |
| 10 | Rocket League | 505 Games |
| 11 | Overwatch | Blizzard |
| 12 | Horizon Zero Dawn | Sony |
| 13 | LEGO City Undercover | Warner Bros. |
| 14 | Forza Horizon 3 | Microsoft |
| 15 | WWE 2K17 | 2K Games |
| 16 | Battlefield 1 | EA |
| 17 | Yooka-Laylee | Team 17 |
| 18 | Sniper: Ghost Warrior 3 | CI Games |
| 19 | For Honor | Ubisoft |
| 20 | Minecraft: Xbox Edition | Microsoft |
JustTaylorNow
Prey is terrible, I had it for a day & traded it in & deleted it off my PlayStation to show I never ever installed it
Jake Durasamy
GTA V being in the Top 3 has always confused me. The game came out four years ago. Who doesn’t own it by now?!
Tuffcub
Everyone who buys a new Xbox One or PS4, its the “Must have” game on the consoles along with, although to a lesser extent, a FIFA and CoD. Most new console owners nab it, and there thousands of them every week.
Jake Durasamy
Who doesn’t own a PS4 or Xbox One by now, though? We’re well into that cycle now.
Surely there are more people with those consoles combined than people upgrading to them?
The Lone Steven
I don’t own one. Mainly because being jobless for almost 2 years.
Stefan L
Sony expect to sell another 18 million consoles this year, and you’re right, almost all “gamers” will have one or the other by now, but there’s still an awful lot of people out there to sell to.
colmshan1990
Zelda 7th?!
Doesn’t every Switch owner have (at least) one copy by now?
The Lone Steven
Nope because Nintendo only limited it to one copy for every 7 owners. :P ….
Nintendo jokes are gonna to get me beaten up one day.
Stefan L
I guess that logically means Nintendo are still selling Switches, then, right?