UK charts: Black Ops still top, Brotherhood second
Latest Need for Speed in third place, and Harry Potter at 20th
Call of Duty: Black Ops has held on to the top spot in the UK all-formats chart, keeping back competition from Assassin's Creed: Brotherhood and Need for Speed: Hot Pursuit.
Ubisoft's Brotherhood entered at second, with EA's latest racer placing third. Kinect retained a top presence with Kinect Sports at nine.
Chart mainstays FIFA 11, Just Dance 2, Wii Party and Wii Sports Resort lingered at fourth to seventh respectively, with Professor Layton and the Lost Future at eight and New Super Mario Brothers Wii at tenth.
The next new entry was critically-derided movie tie-in Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows - Part 1, which at entered at 20.
The full top 40 is as follows:
| This Week | Last Week | Title |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | 1 | Call of Duty: Black Ops |
| 2 | - | Assassin's Creed: Brotherhood |
| 3 | - | Need for Speed: Hot Pursuit |
| 4 | 2 | FIFA 11 |
| 5 | 3 | Just Dance 2 |
| 6 | 12 | Wii Party |
| 7 | 19 | Wii Sports Resort |
| 8 | 6 | Professor Layton and the Lost Future |
| 9 | 4 | Kinect Sports |
| 10 | 8 | New Super Mario Bros. Wii |
| 11 | 17 | Wii Fit Plus |
| 12 | 9 | The Sims 3 |
| 13 | 7 | Fallout: New Vegas |
| 14 | 11 | WWE SmackDown vs. RAW 2011 |
| 15 | 10 | Star Wars: The Force Unleashed II |
| 16 | 14 | Medal of Honor |
| 17 | 24 | F1 2010 |
| 18 | 36 | Sonic Colours |
| 19 | 5 | Football Manager 2011 |
| 20 | - | Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows - Part 1 |
| 21 | 28 | LEGO Harry Potter: Years 1-4 |
| 22 | 25 | New Super Mario Bros. |
| 23 | 27 | Just Dance |
| 24 | 16 | Fable III |
| 25 | 13 | Dance Central |
| 26 | 29 | Toy Story 3 |
| 27 | Re-entry | Art Academy |
| 28 | 18 | Pro Evolution Soccer 2010 |
| 29 | 30 | GoldenEye 007 |
| 30 | 31 | The X-Factor |
| 31 | 35 | Mario Kart Wii |
| 32 | 21 | Halo: Reach |
| 33 | 15 | MotionSports |
| 34 | 37 | Super Mario Galaxy 2 |
| 35 | 32 | Red Dead: Redemption |
| 36 | 34 | Guitar Hero: Warriors of Rock |
| 37 | 39 | LEGO Batman |
| 38 | 22 | 007: Blood Stone |
| 39 | 23 | Fighters Uncaged |
| 40 | Re-entry | Dead Rising 2 |
If an average title is released on 5 formats and sells 100,000 on each, it will show on this chart as 500,000 sales. If a title comes out on 360 alone, or PS3 alone or PC alone and sells 400,000, it will come behind that 5 format title, but what is the bigger hit? The title that can sell too 400,000 PS3 owners (for example) or a game that can only persuade no more than 100,000 buyers on each of those 5 formats?
What you end up with then, is a chart that benefits those average titles that come out on multiple formats, rather than a potential classic that is released on just one format!
I can only believe it is laziness on the part of the media, when you consider that for 30 years it was acceptable to have a chart for each format, so that PC owners could see what was selling for their favoured machine, or PS3 owners, etc.
To be fair James, most would probably agree that the all-formats chart is the most important, and if you want a breakdown of each platform's retail software sales, it can always be found on Chart-Track's website. If GamesIndustry.biz were top individually list every platform's top 20, for instance, it would make for bloated and untidy articles in my opinion.
Perhaps a better way of summarising would be if in these news articles from now on, the writer could include a link to Chart-Track at the bottom, saying something like "For a low-down on the individual format charts, take a look at http://www.chart-track.co.uk".
That has always been the problem with controller "ad-ons" - lower install base, dedicated games don't sell anywhere near as well, less supported future games, etc.
About the only peripheral I can think of to *ever* break the pattern was WiiFit.
I have been involved in the games business for over 25 years. Where we are at now, after just 7 short years of the multiformat market, this industry has become much more precarious. The cost of games are going through the roof, 90% of all releases lose money, and all the eggs are being moved into this 'multiformat' market.
If the industry had continued to have the strongest PC, PS and X-Box games they could, we would have a much stronger industry. But this multiformat chart - now shown everywhere, shows how today expediency is the name of the game, and that will kill this indistry.