FIFA 21 has jumped back to the top spot of the UK Boxed Charts, while the former crown holder, Assassin’s Creed Valhalla has dropped to number two.
According to the official top ten list by GamesIndustry.Biz, FIFA 21’s physical sales climbed by 8%, while CD Projekt Red’s heavily divisive Cyberpunk 2077 dropped down into number eight, experiencing a 57% decline in sales. However, it’s worth noting this only accounted for physical sales, and overall sales were indeed promising in the launch week.
Animal Crossing: New Horizons has maintained a strong performance within the charts, taking number three, and this accounts for a 20% week-on-week drop in sales. Mario Kart 8: Deluxe and Treyarch’s Call of Duty: Black Ops Cold War both saw a decline in sales, taking the fourth and fifth places respectively.
Making up the remainder of the top ten (for the week ending December 26), titles include Spider-Man: Miles Morales (number six and a 31% decline in sales), Just Dance 2021 (number seven and a reduction of 28%), Super Mario 3D All-Stars (number nine while sales dropped by 25%), and the Switch version of Minecraft closing out the list, with a sales fall of 26%.
For Ubisoft, it’s good news as Just Dance 2021 is a week away from surpassing Watch Dogs: Legion as the studio’s second-biggest title of the year (a crown that belongs to Assassin’s Creed Valhalla). Plus, Just Dance 2021’s sales figures are 35% higher than Just Cause 2020 for the same period, seven weeks from launch.
While game sales are vital, companies have also been looking at how much we’re actually playing the titles. GameLuster recently reported that Nintendo are offering players a chance to find out just how much time they’ve spent on the Switch, accounting for the number of games and hours spent playing them.
Considering 2020’s social distancing measures and multiple lockdowns that have kept the majority of us inside with little else to do, it’s fair to imagine that the numbers will be quite high.
FIFA 21 is available on the PlayStation 4, PlayStation 5, Nintendo Switch, Xbox One, Xbox Series X/S, and PC.
