It was another strong week for game sales, as the weekend after Black Friday and continuing Cyber Monday sales helped keep games flying off the shelves. However, it also helped lead to another big stumble for a game’s launch, as Darksiders III debuted in 32nd. Though digital sales make up a much larger slice of the pie than in 2010 and 2012, the game sold 84% less than Darksiders II and 70% less than the original game.
You have to wonder how long it is before game publishers start avoiding the second half of November entirely for game releases.
Still, it’s good news for FIFA 19, which spent another week on the top spot, while Red Dead Redemption 2 returned to second in the charts. Forza Horizon 4 is also up on Horizon 3’s sales, and Pokémon Let’s Go is doing better than X&Y did, which were the first games to appear on 3DS. There’s even a slight silver lining for Battlefield V, which holds onto fourth despite sales coming in much lower than previous entries.
Here’s the top thirty-three:
| LW | TW | Title |
| 1 | 1 | FIFA 19 |
| 3 | 2 | RED DEAD REDEMPTION 2 |
| 2 | 3 | CALL OF DUTY: BLACK OPS 4 |
| 4 | 4 | BATTLEFIELD V |
| 5 | 5 | FORZA HORIZON 4 |
| 9 | 6 | SPYRO REIGNITED TRILOGY |
| 8 | 7 | POKEMON: LET’S GO, PIKACHU! |
| 11 | 8 | ASSASSIN’S CREED ODYSSEY |
| 10 | 9 | MARIO KART 8 DELUXE |
| 12 | 10 | FORTNITE: DEEP FREEZE BUNDLE |
| 7 | 11 | FALLOUT 76 |
| 17 | 12 | SHADOW OF THE TOMB RAIDER |
| 14 | 13 | WWE 2K19 |
| 13 | 14 | CRASH BANDICOOT N.SANE TRILOGY |
| 24 | 15 | SUPER MARIO PARTY |
| 6 | 16 | MARVEL’S SPIDER-MAN |
| 18 | 17 | POKEMON: LET’S GO, EEVEE! |
| 27 | 18 | JUST DANCE 2019 |
| 20 | 19 | LEGO THE INCREDIBLES |
| 15 | 20 | PLAYSTATION VR WORLDS |
| 26 | 21 | GRAND THEFT AUTO V |
| 29 | 22 | MINECRAFT |
| 25 | 23 | SUPER MARIO ODYSSEY |
| 31 | 24 | NBA 2K19 |
| 38 | 25 | THE LEGEND OF ZELDA: BREATH OF THE WILD |
| 19 | 26 | ASTRO BOT RESCUE MISSION |
| 40 | 27 | LEGO HARRY POTTER COLLECTION |
| 16 | 28 | FARMING SIMULATOR 19 |
| 22 | 29 | TEKKEN 7 |
| 39 | 30 | F1 2018 |
| 32 | 31 | FAR CRY 5 |
| NE | 32 | DARKSIDERS III |
| RE | 33 | HITMAN 2 |
MrYd
Yay! We’re back to random numbers again after a disappointingly normal top 10 last week.
And given that just about every single new release lately has a “sold less than the previous game, but doesn’t include digital sales” disclaimer, is it not time to stop reporting on these things until someone manages to make the numbers meaningful?
The top 10 might be accurate in terms of relative positions (the numbers sold should cover up any weirdly popular challengers), but further down?
Also, what’s going on with the VR games? Only the bundled VR Worlds and Astrobot (which was bundled and on sale as well) in that top 33? There’s a whole swarm of people with new Fancy Hat. I’ve seen so many new people apologising for being low level in Firewall. And a whole load of new people in Star Trek Bridge Crew. (It’s fun to be a captain with a crew of newbies). I’ve probably seen more new VR people this past week than any other week. I’m sure Sony have that “4m PSVRs sold” press release ready to go sometime in the new month or so.
Dominic Leighton
They’ve had a bunch of the VR games on sale on PSN though I guess?
Shame about Darksiders III – but I will buy it in the January sales for sure.
MrYd
Astro Bot was definitely on sale (and recommended at full price too). And Firewall was too (plus that’s just had a permanent £10 price drop by the looks of it).
I suspect people with The Fancy Hat are probably more likely to buy digital copies than physical, even ignoring sales. It’s hard to swap a disc with the headset on. Go to play a different game, only to find you’ve accidentally inserted the disc into the dog? No, download the game instead.
So not counting those in the charts makes them fairly pointless, especially once you’re away from the big games at the top.