It's an extremely turbulent time right now, as fears surrounding coronavirus see businesses shutting up shop, employees working from home, and streets clearing as people are forced to stay indoors. It would be insensitive to make light of the situation, of course, but one interesting side effect of all this is an increase in demand for video games. GamesIndustry.biz reports that, in the UK, over 475,000 physical games were purchased last week, which is more than triple the previous week's figure.
A couple of key new releases will have contributed to this number, of course. DOOM Eternal manages a second place debut among all the chaos, while Switch exclusive Animal Crossing: New Horizons takes the lead. However, game sales are up across the board; only three games out of the top 40 saw a decline in sales. Titles like Call of Duty: Modern Warfare and FIFA 20 enjoyed huge sales boosts, and are back in third and fourth respectively. Some games, like Crash Team Racing Nitro-Fueled and Red Dead Redemption 2, are back in the top 10, while recent releases have taken a nosedive. Nioh 2, which debuted at number one last week, is now at number 25.
Here's the latest top 10 in full.
UK Sales Charts: Week Ending 21st March 2020
- Animal Crossing: New Horizons
- DOOM Eternal
- Call of Duty: Modern Warfare
- FIFA 20
- Mario Kart 8 Deluxe
- Grand Theft Auto V
- Crash Bandicoot N. Sane Trilogy
- Forza Horizon 4
- Crash Team Racing Nitro-Fueled
- Red Dead Redemption 2
[source gamesindustry.biz]
Comments 35
Wow, can't believe Animal Crossing beat the multiformat Doom to first spot!
Gta 5 seriously who is buying this?
Just completed my first grounded run on TLOUR, now I've finally started a play through of Uncharted 4, still got HZD dlc to play, need to finish RDR2, Wastelands 2, Hitman, I'm good for a while.
@darksoul77 i think that R* must have added in a new patch requiring the ownership of 5 copies per person to play GTA5 😜.
Truly is an amazing accomplishment for R* tho. Those sales figures are astronomical.
@ShaiHulud I'm hearing that Animal Crossing has sold absurdly well, even for an Animal Crossing game.
@Quintumply Apparently the launch sale was bigger than all the other AC launch sales combined!
@ShaiHulud @Quintumply It has been over 7 years since the last proper one though.
@ShaiHulud Don't forget that these are only physical sales, so it's hard to make an actual comparison.
@Kidfried even taking that into account Doom Eternal won't be anywhere near Animal Crossing
@Kidfried It'll be interesting to compare those as well. Doom's downloadable copies will probably be through the roof, although you'd think that a game like Animal Crossing would really benefit from not having to insert the cartridge every time you play it.
I'm currently playing between games I got Anthem for like £2.50 new and sealed it's got a poor story but the Colossus javlin is awesome to use and I like just going round shooting crap etc. Then I've got god of war as well and occasionally spyro
@ShaiHulud Animal Crossing has been number 1 on the eshop for a while before launch so I'd imagine quite a few did pick it up digitally, including myself for that very reason. Realistically for Doom to be anywhere near AC its physical sales would have to account for just 20 to 25% of it's overall total
@carlos82 Ah right, I don't know what the percentage of PC buyers would be, but that's probably not going to happen.
@Quintumply Has AC not sold well in the past?
@Akurusu What I mean is, Animal Crossing has historically been a big seller for Nintendo, and New Horizons is doing well even by those standards.
Animal crossing fully deserves it tbh so much to do in this one plus its an escape from the crappy real life at the moment.
Also interested to see how this virus has effected the coming soon games such as persona 5 Royal and the many games in April.
@Quintumply @ShaiHulud I think a lot of people bought Animal Crossing because it's the perfect game for relaxing at home during quarantine.
@Jake3103 Are you implying that blowing some demons to smithereens is less relaxing?
And this is just physical sales. I have to imagine the digital numbers for Animal Crossing: New Horizons are just enormous. Even the 3DS release from 2013, which released on a console geared toward physical releases at a time when digital's share of the overall sales pie wasn't quite so large, still shifted a large fraction of its total units digitally.
Mario Kart 8 Deluxe continuing to show its staying power. It never seems to stay off the list for very long.
And GTA V perpetually haunts best-seller lists like a ghost. People in the UK will never stop purchasing that game.
I would love to see AC total sale as i bet a massive ammount was digital purchases. Not only for the quarantine issue but because its one of those games thats renowned for being a game people buy digital so it just sits on the system perfect for the dip in dip out nature of the game.
@LN78 It might be a crap game to some but I've gotten bored of Destiny 2 since all my friends have moved on and they had more free time to do more stuff in that game. In Anthem I can do the story and go around blowing up crap in a mech I loved games like Armored Core back on PS2 era and Titanfall 2 in a way is the only game that's come close to me. Zone of Ender's is there but not for me
@LN78 oh I know bud find it cheap it's worth a blast
I pre-ordered Doom and with games available to download, shopping for games may not to badly affected - other than those who are going to struggle financially with the impact - holding onto what money they have.
Gaming, as we have seen, is less likely to be affected and has seen an increase in online activity - unsurprisingly as people are having to spend time at home and not go out to socialise...
Anyway, I hope all are staying safe and well...
Not surprising. Switch owners literally wait 3 month between Nintendo launches and rush out and get it. I do not play Animal crossing so I have to wait for the next announcement. It is crazy town.
I am actually not playing anything on that list. Bought DOOM but not had a chance to try it out. And with F1 2019 on fire right now online because F1 Virtual season - playing that instead of FIFA.
RDR2 back in the top 10. You, Sir, are a fish.
Got no idea what animal crossing is looks like Pokémon to me
2020 and GTA’s still in the top 10! Lol
@LukeOtisSmith AC is very different to Pokemon. Is like a real time life-sim game that’s quite hard to describe! To be honest you don’t do much but it does have a certain charm and draw to it...
Was Animal Crossing always a big seller? I honestly don't remember it being this popular.
Wow, I can't believe AC is more popular than DOOM in the UK ðŸ¤
@Gamer83 IIRC the GC and Wii games were moderately successful, but it's with New Leaf (on the 3DS) that the series' popularity exploded.
@LukeOtisSmith It’s nothing like Pokémon
@Agramonte It’s not that. The main series is very good and relaxing to play and we’ve been waiting since 2012
@Quintumply ooh okay, I’m fairly new to the series.
Hey Bethesda, are you people fixing the annoying lack of ammunition in Doom Eternal? The whole concept of "mindless carnage" is seriously curtailed by your stinginess.
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