Star Wars Battlefront 2 launched with 60 per cent fewer copies than its predecessor at retail in the UK, sales data has confirmed. The previous entry enjoyed the biggest ever debut for a Star Wars game in Britain, although it did have an extra day to rack up that record compared to the new instalment. It’s also worth mentioning that digital sales have been steadily increasing since 2015, and aren’t factored into these results at all.
Nevertheless, it’s hard to see anything other than a small decline here – it seems that the whole loot box fiasco may have actually hit EA where it hurts. To be fair, the publisher did switch off all in-game purchases prior to release, and it has vowed to update the title to reduce their impact before they're re-introduced. That’s not before the furore became mainstream news, however, breaking out of the industry bubble and landing stories on the BBC and CNN websites.
Elsewhere, this was a great week for new releases, with a couple of fresh Pokémon titles, The Sims 4, L.A. Noire, and LEGO Marvel Super Heroes 2 all breaching the top ten. In addition, Skyrim VR, buoyed by some brilliant bundles, secured the largest third-party PlayStation VR launch to date in 19th position – beating out the heavily promoted Switch edition by several places. The full top ten is included below.
UK Sales Charts: Week Ending 18th November, 2017
- Call of Duty: WWII
- Star Wars Battlefront 2
- FIFA 18
- Pokémon Ultra Sun
- Pokémon Ultra Moon
- Assassin's Creed Origins
- The Sims 4
- L.A. Noire
- Super Mario Odyssey
- LEGO Marvel Super Heroes 2
[source chart-track.co.uk]
Comments 84
Called it !
PSVR has a hardcore audience that is clamouring for bigger & better experiences.
Nintendo gamers primarily buy Nintendo games.
The fact is that the majority of those Skyrim VR sales aren't even counted. Those are all new owners.
Who buys VR titles physically?
Certain Skyrim VR would've charted in the top 5 if all sales were included.
Fallout 4 next please!
While the microtransactions and negative reception will have hit EA sales; it also wont have helped that they announced the game would get discounted when star wars ep 8 is released so im sure some people are waiting. Also with black Friday this week, some will be keeping wallets closed for possible discounts elsewhere.
Bigger story, unless I missed it in previous weeks....GTA is finally out of the top 10!
Most importantly, Valkyria Chronicles 4 has been announced so this makes for a happy day today
Wowzer bowzer. I was expecting a top entry for BF2 even with the controversy. That said, I can see a lot of digital sales for an online shooter but this is quite big news. Ah well.
@Fight_Teza_Fight errr...I haven’t bought any digital vr games yet 😂
@get2sammyb - are you guys going to review sims 4?
Still amazed there is now TWO versions of Skyrim on PS4 (idk if it’s on PS Now for the PS3 ver otherwise that’d be THREE versions on PS4)
@ztpayne7 Yes, it's coming soon.
Ouch for switch 3rd party games, with fifa only sold 1%, skyrim vr outsell skyrim switch, and doom only sold 3.500, the future of switch 3rd party AAA games isn't looking good.
I'm planning to buy skyrim switch though since I don't have psvr, but if I have vr, there's no way I'm missing skyrim vr.
Like I said before, the reason to buy switch is for nintendo games, not because people want to play games anywhere. Switch portability is a bonus, not the main reason to buy it.
@Fight_Teza_Fight Id agree w you but we’re talking a country that in the realm of gaming Sony has a 90% monopoly on in terms of sales... at least for 8th gen...
@ztpayne7 Really? Do you not find it a hassle changing discs with the headset on?
I prefer physical over digital, but I made the decision to go all digital with VR.
@Derpie1 VR has a fraction of the install base the Switch has. It's impressive nevertheless.
@wiiware I think it’s cus Sony has a monopoly in the UK
I don’t know if Japan will care for Skyrim
US idk tbh
@Derpie1 Don't think so but then I'm pretty sure my toaster has Skyrim as well so it's possible.
I wouldn't necessarily say the loot box situation is to blame for the sales as it's been the norm for physical sales been down this year for many sequels.
@Fight_Teza_Fight "Certain Skyrim VR would've charted in the top 5 if all sales were included."
Are you certain there are more PSVR owners in the UK than Pokémon sold?
That's an actual question, as charts without numbers annoy me. I was already wondering if there were more PSVR or Switch in the UK when I read your comment.Then I realized it was the UK so Nintendo related sales tend to be low. Pokémon bucks that trend. Then I realize even Pokémon didn't do very well at release. Then I wonder if the 2 games split the base, and combined if it would have been number 1. Then I remember why charts without numbers annoy me.
Good things finally happen in the video game industry.
Now I hope all microtransaction games sales go down.
@Fight_Teza_Fight Lol, that's just the UK market which is just tiny market worldwide, guys in UK are mostly
casual dude bro types interested in Fifa and CoD. You can't make out any larger picture based on the UK market!
@ztpayne7 @Fight_Teza_Fight I only own one VR game physically: Resident Evil 7. I have about 30 digitally.
I have to imagine VR sales skew digitally — seems crazy buying them on a disc to me.
@wiiware again, people basing their views on the (laughable) UK dudebro market is just wrong, lol.
@Derpie1 That's not true at all. PS4 is definitely the dominant console here, but Xbox One is pretty close behind.
@KodamaWarrior I've no idea how the UK is anymore "laughably dudebro" than any other Western territory, but please do carry on.
Also, Skyrim and DOOM are the very definition of "dudebro" games, so surely they should have appealed to this "dudebro" market? (As they both did many years ago when they released on other platforms.)
@Fight_Teza_Fight “Who buys VR titles physically?” - Me, if the option is there, so that I can part-exchange them at a later date. Skyrim VR is on my to buy list. And hell yes to Fallout 4 for PSVR!
The Skyrim thing kinda makes sense. The Switch version is the worst version of a game that's been released forty times. The VR version is a totally new spin on a game that's been released forty-one times.
Meaningless again without digital figures.. The last 5 games I bought have been digital. I would have got Skyrim digital too for the Switch had i got it, for easy gaming on the go.
@get2sammyb Hate to say it, but UK is much worse than NA, in UK people mostly buy Fifa, COD and..well more fifa and COD.
@KodamaWarrior You're right, this is the NPD's top ten for October in the US:
1. Middle-earth: Shadow of War
2. Assassin’s Creed: Origins
3. Super Mario Odyssey**
4. South Park: The Fractured But Whole
5. NBA 2K18
6. FIFA 18
7. WWE 2K18
8. Madden NFL 18
9. Destiny 2*
10. Forza Motorsport 7
No sign of FIFA or Madden or NBA or Destiny. (COD will top next month by the way.)
@get2sammyb yeah but Xbox has some flaws to it that’ll prob keep it from taking over...
so it's fallen from about 400K week 1 sales to 160K (on more than double the install base). so £25 this friday then?
@leucocyte Good thing they already confirmed months ago they'll be dropping the price for Xmas: https://www.pushsquare.com/news/2017/11/maybe_dont_buy_star_wars_battlefront_2_at_launch
I wonder what the percentage of Digital sales vs disc is now? I have only bought 1 game on disc for PS4 which was Knack 1 at launch in 2013. Litterally every other game I've purchased has been digital. Am i still the exception or is that the trend now?
@KingdomHeartsFan - you really think 50% more bought this game on PSN/XBL than on disc (where it' can be found much cheaper?). anyway you look at it, BF2 has declined significantly.
@3Above - i don't own any AAA games digitally for PS4. if i want a game, i almost always buy it in the first week, and it's always cheaper to buy it on disc, and 9 times out of 10 arrives before official release date. i suspect for most big/popular titles the UK still has a large favour towards physical discs, maybe as much as 75/25. bare in mind, that 25% of units can be more quite a bit more than 25% of overall revenue.
@rjejr Would've been close imo. No chance against a new Pokemon game, but those are re-releases(+) & they split their sales.
Digital is the way to go with VR. It takes enough time to get set up. Once you cleared the play area, sorted out the wires & camera, the last thing you want to do is get up & change a disc.
@3Above honestly, I think you are neither the exception nor the rule at this point. The gap is narrowing considerably ; but there is still a big chunk of the market favouring boxed releases (myself included) . I think a larger chunk of the market than many expected have gone fully digital now though; particularly since discs appear to be little more than glorified cd keys these days, with the installation being more or less identical to the download size for a digital release. It would be interesting to see the breakdown of sales now (physical vs digital) to see how mich the market is changing. You can get a glimpse in many publisher quarterly earning reports where they often do break it down. An interesting future awaits
@3Above It's becoming increasingly more common, but more people still buy physically than digitally (although to a lesser degree at this point).
I think the last stats I saw suggested around 30%-40% go digital, although it was 50% for Destiny 2 I believe.
I've a feeling that a few factors will come into play for BF2 here.
Firstly, the controversy has undoubtedly affected physical sales. No two ways about it.
Secondly, physical sales are now more likely, as digital sales tend to be more toward gamers themselves as opposed to people being gifted the game itself (as in, parents buying it for the kids). This means that digital customers are more engaged and a bit more savvy as to the industry.
Thirdly, I'd wager that a few are waiting for a price cut, payday, at least a black Friday deal, before buying.
There's a chance that it could still sell very well. Hopefully it doesn't.
@Derpie1 I think it's about value, doom and skyrim already released and discounted for ps4 and xbox1, people won't buy full an inferior and full priced skyrim or doom on another console, people don't care about portability.
@KodamaWarrior I think skyrim is dudebro, you can kill nearly all the people and animal that you meet in the game lol
@Fight_Teza_Fight Of course Nintendo sales are lower, it's the UK. What matters is overall performance.
No one ever said Brits had good taste...
@wiiware actually it’s not THAT inferior but I genuinely believe that UK is essentially Kinda like how Japan is for Microsoft
Do people really care for the Kyoto based Company’s games in the UK. In a way no
Nintendo’s most profitable areas are US and Japan. That’s it
I always buy physical, but with Skyrim it was getting a bit embarrassing having the same game over and over on the shelf so this time I bought digital. It is actually the only reason I originally bought a switch. The idea I could again play a 200+ hour game where ever and when ever. This will also be my second 200+ hour game this year, I also have 210 hours so far on zelda.
Good about Battlefront slumping.
Seriously everybody should just not buy ANY EA game for the next 12 months, hell even for 2 months would see them probably shut down.
EA has gotten so big and is no longer about "The Game". they develop garbage after garbage, spend millions on marketing it and then harass you for endless money after.
Do you remember when a £60 game lasted you as long as you wanted it to and all you ever paid was £60 and that was expensive?
Games like Goldeneye, FIFA 08, NHL 99, Desert Strike, Medal of Honour. All EA games.
Today EA make the same games but you pay £60+ to get the game, then another £40+ for the DLC and then if ( and how hard)you get sucked into the microtransactions you could be paying somewhere between another £30-£1,000 ontop of that.
The game you used to enjoy for £60 is now the bane of your life as it turns you into a gamber/addict and drains you of £100-£1500 per year!!!! as they intend on re-releasing the same crap every 12-24months.
This needs to stop.
@EVIL-C I love the way people talk about the UK charts saying we have such bad taste, as though their own charts are full of indie cult classics and trendy AAA left-field games that are a secret only to them...
Anyway whether you personally like the games in the top 10 or not, they are generally very highly ranked, good games. It includes one of the highest ranked games OF ALL TIME, the aggregate score of which was probably contributed to from publications from YOUR country... Could it be it's your taste that's sh*t...?
@wiiware I bought Doom on Switch for exactly portability and I play it WAY more than I play Doom on PS4 as it way more accessible and overall is just better in every way.
Why is it inferior? All the content is there and I can play it literally whenever I want. the FPS and resolution may be lower, but compared to the 0FPS and 0p resolution I get when I try play Doom away from my house on the PS4, it stands head and shoulders above the PS4 port.
@DESS-M-8 actually it’s just Resolution PS4/X1 Base versions are 30fps...
@MadAussieBloke actually let’s count down the days til Nintendo gives up consoles and becomes a 3rd party themselves
Is your mouth watering to finally see Nintendo’s games on PlayStation? Only a matter of time now!
@Derpie1 @DESS-M-8 It's actually really impressive to play doom and skyrim on portable. But although it's not fair for switch (because portables won't have better graphics compared to console in the same generation), people don't care about portability, they rather have better graphics and cheap games.
I think people either have time to play games, or don't have time, the market for people that want to play AAA games but don't have time so it must be played on portables is not that great.
@wiiware (in the UK that is)
Well... Nintendo is stuck w this system for 5 years at least unless it fails then either new gimmick, go for power, or go 3rd Party Nintendo’s choice.
3rd parties can drop anytime although I doubt Indies will drop since they don’t need (1M+) much sales to be successful.
@MadAussieBloke well if you think about it maybe you’d try it after all they’re now on PlayStation which is mind boggling (without Emulation) who knows maybe you’ll see really cool crossovers if companies are willing to work w The new 3rd party
Basically lots of potential to play w a 3rd party Nintendo.
The Switch version of Skyrim underperforms at retail in one of Nintendo's weaker European markets and suddenly we're back to "Nintendo gamers only buy Nintendo games!" Even though we've seen multiple instances in the past year where this narrative has been discredited.
Oh well. People will fixate on things that support their preconceptions and ignore or downplay things that don't. That's how confirmation bias works.
pffft, UK sales charts are the worst.
We only like grime music, shooting and football.
@wiiware it';s not the lack of time, it's the pure accessibility meaning that instead of logging in every evening to trade cards, unlock weapons are level up on death matches I can now do that whenever I like. My break at Uni and work? can now be spent gaming on the same game I play at home, not the portable version of.
It is an entirely missed concept at the moment but does seem to be slowly picking up.
The difference in graphics, while notciable, isn't actually that huge, with the Switch looking way more like a PS4 than a PS3. and when it's mobile, even more so due to the screen size.
Add to that you can play ANY game anywhere you are, anytime, the pure accessibility of all your multiplayer games.
PS4 may be marketed as for the players, but the switch hardware truly is the first machine ever that is purely for the gamers. Now if the software keeps coming and all AA titles see light on the Switch, more millions of people will slowly realise that this is the greatest gaming hardware ever put out by any manufacturer in terms of pure gaming, it just needs the games.
@Derpie1 even more so then. the difference between them is virtually none existent, unless you purposely sit there playing spot the difference. nothing is taken away from the experience of the game, if anything it is added to
@get2sammyb Well to be fair i live in the Caribbean where its actually cheaper to buy games digitally (save on shipping/mark up and get it at launch when preordered). But that might be the case in other countries so perhaps its catching on. I would prefer discs tho.
@MadAussieBloke Lmao, you are in the worst timeline as a Sony pony, the me too-PC box consoles are on their last legs and selling PS4s plus a free game for 200 won't buy much time , people are jumping to PC and Switch. Your jealousy of Nintendo and their timeless franchises is well known, like with all other Sony fanboys, this won't make Knack 2 better than Mario Odyssey, PASBR better than SMASH, HZD better than Zelda, Crash better than Pokemon or Modnation better than Mario Kart.
It's innovate or die for consoles, same boxes with same controllers won't cut it anymore when new PC GPUs and CPUs are getting released every other month. It's innovate or die for consoles and Nintendo knows that, practicality and convenience of portability trump incremental resolution. It's just the improvements, this is just the beginning!
@get2sammyb hey, I'm a religious nba2k guy but I ain't no "dudebro"!
Actually, I don't even know that that means...
@KodamaWarrior Where are you going with all this? You're teetering perilously close to fanboy rubbish with this comment, so just dial it down, yeah?
@get2sammyb It seems you didn't read what I was replying to....
@KodamaWarrior um... Who is this nerd? Kodama? More like obake.
@KodamaWarrior Then allow me to politely extend that comment to @MadAussieBloke, too. Let's not do this, guys!
Happy thoughts!
@KodamaWarrior 'me too-PC box consoles are on their last legs'
Yet the PS4 is up year-on-year & will hit 100million by early 2019. Try harder.
@Derpie1 From digital foundry : When it comes to performance, both versions aim to deliver a steady 60 frames per second update and the game comes remarkably close to delivering just that.
Do not make up facts.
@Sanquine what!? I pulled up Digital Foundry and PS4/X1/Pro go for 30... Mind blown
The only ver that does 60... is PC... unless Xbox One X goes for 60...
@Derpie1 I think switch is the best console for nintendo since nintendo games doesn't need too much power compared to other console games. Nintendo will be okay as long as people bought it's 1st party games. 3rd party can success on switch but they have to make an unique games, like ubisoft mario rabbids, or squareenix octopath traveller. People will not buy inferior and more expensive version of AAA games that's already on ps4 or xbox1 just because it's portable.
@DESS-M-8 We have different habits, I don't have time for games when I'm at uni (already graduated a couple of years ago), usually I use my break time to eat and to talk or discuss class lesson with my friend, there's time for game, and there's time to socialize.
@JoeBlogs Yup, portable is nice but I only play portable system on my room, so for AAA games I rather have great graphics rather than portability.
@Ralizah But I bought my switch to play nintendo games and indies only
@KodamaWarrior Man if the worst timeline is the timeline that give me bloodborne, horizon zd, persona 5, uncharted 4/LL, crash remaster, nier automata, and others, I hope we still be in worst timeline when the next ps console arrive lol
@wiiware And I bought my PS4 to play exclusives. Everyone's different.
If PSVR 2.0 was launched instead in UK I reckon we'd see a higher position. I'm one who's waiting for the PSVR 2.0 bundle.
@DESS-M-8 GoldenEye was Rare, not EA.
@wiiware I have a PS4 pro and bought skyrim switch just to play handheld. Looks great, plays great, can dip in and out at will. I don't intend playing it on the TV.
@Derpie1 http://www.eurogamer.net/articles/digitalfoundry-2016-doom-face-off. Dont be stupid
@Derpie1 Again here is the YouTube framerate analysis https://youtu.be/5tpAvmbnR0U . I also love my switch but i dont need to lie to justify a purchase or its superiority.. BOTW and Mario Odyssey proof that
@Fight_Teza_Fight Oh come on you can't surmise that Nintendo gamers only buy Nintendo games based on sales of a year odd old port of a remastered port vs a version that was also bundled in a very good early black Friday deal. Surely a better metric is to compare recent multiple concurrent releases such as Sonic Forces, L.A Noire or Fifa 18. There also seems to be an assumption by some on these articles, and same on NLife for that matter, that the U.K is the centre of the universe when it comes to game sales, fail here you've failed, not to mention the growing irrelevance of charts that give no indication of digital.
I love my Switch, also, and i'd LOVE to play skyrim on the go but I'm going for PSVR for sure.
@MadAussieBloke @wiiware @Fight_Teza_Fight the difference between place 26 and 21 in the UK is probably just a couple dozen units.
@Sanquine page not found n I’m not talking about DOOM. DOOM Ik it’s a 60fps (yet unstable) on base PS4/X1...
I’m talking Skyrim
Skyrim is 30 on any platform that isn’t PC unless Xbox One X is anything different
https://youtu.be/KjtSTvu2Mow
https://youtu.be/qqR58L9oEOc
@manu0 It's more about the audience, I think psvr sold less than switch in uk but skyrim sold better on psvr, so it means psvr audience buy 3rd party games, switch audience isn't.
@DM666 @Ralizah Yup, everybody different. It's just most people buy switch for nintendo games, not portability. Fifa sold 1%, doom 3.500, and skyrim psvr sold better is the proof of that. If there's no zelda and mario this year I don't think switch will sell at all.
@wiiware Rubbish. You're starting with a conclusion ("Nintendo gamers don't buy Nintendo games") and then cherry-picking bits of data that seem to support it. As I said: confirmation bias at work.
Multiple independent developers have already reported having more success on the Switch than on other platforms with their games. No problems on this front.
Japanese third party games seem to be doing good as well, with multiple major japanese devs scrambling to release their games on the system. Xenoverse 2 evidently did very well. Sonic Forces debut on the Switch was fairly close to the game's debut on PS4 in the UK, which is impressive, given the difference in install bases. I believe Disgaea 5 actually sold better on the Switch. Series that have passed Nintendo consoles by in the past, like Valkyria Chronicles, Dragon Quest, and Tales of... are going to show up on the system. People at SE are even talking about ways of trying to bring games like FF15 to the system (won't happen, but the fact that it's being seriously looked into is a very good sign).
So we're left with... Western third party support. Those dismal numbers you keep repeating over and over are early UK retail sales of those games, yes? That doesn't surprise me. The UK isn't a good market for Nintendo to begin with, and its retail presence is minimal. This doesn't take UK digital into account. It also doesn't take the retail performance of these games in less dire markets for Nintendo into account. On the American digital front, I know that DOOM and Skyrim have been near the top of the eshop charts for a while now. I don't know how significant those sales are, but they're another part of the puzzle.
Based on the available evidence at this point, I'd say the Switch is likely to be swimming in indies and Japanese third party games soon, with a limited number of highly-optimized AAA Western multiplats coming to the system every year. Not the level of universal third party support the PS4 receives, obviously, but light years ahead of the Wii U's level of support, and with more high-profile releases than would have been seen on a dedicated handheld.
@Ralizah Indies and B games (like disgaea 5) sold better on switch, AAA games that's not nintendo games will sold better on another console, people won't buy an inferior and more expensive version just because it's portables, that's a fact. Maybe I'll change my mind if there's big AAA games that's sold better on switch (like wolfenstein 2).
There's audience for each console, for playstation that's people that want big AAA single player story games, for xbox it's multiplayer focused games, for nintendo it's nintendo games, indies, and B games.
Most people bought switch as complementary console, not for main console.
@wiiware I'm... not sure we're actually disagreeing with each other.
Let me be clear: I don't expect Western AAA multiplats to sell better on Switch. Won't happen. They won't even sell on par with PS4 and Xbone versions of said games, in all likelihood. I don't even expect full support on that front. I think we'll get some support. But I expect that limited Western AAA support to stand alongside muscular Japanese third party and indie support, in which case the Switch will be very well off.
@wiiware again, the difference between 21st and 26st place is insignificant when you look at how many games are being sold in that region of the charts. you can't tell anything from that in either direction.
@Fight_Teza_Fight i bought it physically, why do you think people don't 🤔
@Stealthieone Maybe there are more of you out there than I thought! I own almost 50+ physical PS4 games, all my PSVR games are digital. Like @get2sammyb said, I imagine they skew heavily in favour of digital.
Too much set up involved. The last thing I'd want to do is take the headset off and change game discs, then repeat the set up process.
Lol, 3rd party Switch games are doing fine. It's hilarious how the nintendoom machine always pops up
@toffeecrit
Spot on about these charts and not including digital sales. When I look at these I want to get the full picture, otherwise don't even bother me with this nonsense. It's 2017, beyond stupid that digital sale numbers are still not included.
@BraveFencerZan
Even if they weren't, I don't know why anybody on either side of the fence should care. Ports of big budget AAA games that are a year old or more may not sell well. Doesn't matter because it should be expected. The real test will be the games unique to the system like Octopath Traveler. The Wii got by just fine with games like Red Steel, No More Heroes and MadWorld along with Nintendo's IP. If the Switch has to do the same, it'll be able to do so with ease because as The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild and Super Mario Odyssey have shown, Nintendo is bringing its 'A' game to the table with this system (imo the same can't be said for Wii U, that's why it struggled).
@BraveFencerZan Thinks Nintendo is DOOMed
@Fight_Teza_Fight "the last thing you want to do is get up & change a disc."
Especially while you have the PSVR headset on and can't see a thing.
People sure can do what they want with their money but I'm still kinda shocked they're selling copies of Battlefront 2.
@FredBiletnikoff not the original, the “redux” that was poor.
@wiiware since when can’t video games be social. I’m also not telling you how to play games, I’m saying the opportunity to and accessibility of video games has just evolved massively. Playstation and Xbox are now behind creatively
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