Ubisoft has once again proven that it's the master of sleeper hits, as its Ghost Recon: Wildlands has secured the largest launch of the year so far. It didn't feel like there was anywhere near the same anticipation for the co-op shooter as the likes of Horizon: Zero Dawn or The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild, but it's sitting pretty at the summit of the UK best sellers list.
Of course, the game is available on multiple platforms, so that definitely helps. According to Chart-Track, the game enjoyed the second best debut ever for a title sporting the moniker Tom Clancy; only The Division did better. That's… Honestly quite a surprising statistic as far as we're concerned.
Elsewhere, Horizon: Zero Dawn continued to sell well in second, while LEGO Worlds entered in third. Grand Theft Auto V hijacked fifth, just above newcomer NieR: Automata which entered in a respectable sixth. FIFA 17, Rocket League, and Call of Duty: Infinite Warfare rounded out the top ten – and that's all she wrote this week.
UK Sales Charts: Week Ending 11th March, 2017
- Tom Clancy's Ghost Recon: Wildlands
- Horizon: Zero Dawn
- LEGO Worlds
- The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wilds
- Grand Theft Auto V
- NieR: Automata
- FIFA 17
- Rocket League
- 1, 2 Switch
- Call of Duty: Infinite Warfare
[source chart-track.co.uk]
Comments 36
I wonder how much stuff like open betas contribute to this? It'd be interesting to see some numbers.
So after another week, Zelda still can't match Horizon? In the UK at least... That's impressive considering a lot thought the pull of Zelda, a beloved franchise, would hurt Horizon and that the reason Horizon was 'above' it in sales was down to having a few extra days on the market.
I must admit, Ghost Recon: Wildlands doesn't appeal to me. It does have the advantage of releasing on multiple formats but to a degree was still surprised it has the biggest 'launch' this year. I thought people were burned out on open-world games and Ubisofts ones in particular. Maybe people were still remembering the previous RE games to warrant buying RE7 at launch.
I wouldn't be surprised if ME:A beats it though in a few weeks but again that has had a troubled time in the development and build up to release so maybe not...
@BAMozzy I think the Switch is hard to find now. But yeah, Horizon has done very, very well for itself.
@BAMozzy
Also, Zelda really costs £300+ , Horizon costs £50 as the Switch didn't have a user base before this month and PS4 had the largest user base for consoles.
I think it is crazy that they bought Tom Clancy's name (even though he has been dead for nearly 4 years) and then just slap it on anything that is slightly military.
Seems to work though. I am not surprised, Zelda has a smaller install base and Horizon is a new IP in a fantasy world and Tom Clancy's: Shopping List is a branded name in a genre that tends to do well.
The Beta put me off the game and I got Nier instead.
Good to see Zelda and Horizon still doing well.
Man I hate Ubisoft.
Glad to see Nier doing well in the UK.
Hopefully it'll have similar results over here in the U.S.
I'll probably grab Wildlands when it's cheaper but for now I'm enjoying Horizon too much and deserves to sell loads. The strong sales hopefully mean we'll get a sequel too at some point...
Fingers crossed Zelda keeps selling well also as it sounds like it deserves it...
@RPE83 I said exactly that a few weeks ago but was still told that Zelda will beat it because its also available on WiiU and whilst Nintendo (both Switch and WiiU combined) can't match-up to Sonys PS4 user base, it would still beat an 'unknown' entity like Horizon. Some even suggesting that 'half' of the WiiU user base will buy Zelda making it easily beat Horizon without considering the Switch sales as its been anticipated for years on the WiiU. The WiiU version isn't as expensive as the Switch and a comparable price.
Uncharted 4, according to VG Charts, has sold 8.68m units which is still far less than the number of WiiU and Switch consoles and equates to around 16% of PS4 users. Some people seemed to suggest that Horizon would 'struggle' to match up to this figure - especially with Zelda launching as its a 'new' IP and a totally new genre for GG. PushSquare even ran articles to suggest 'moving' the release date because of Zelda to give it a better chance...
@BAMozzy Zelda has never been a Nintendo system seller. I don't think there's even a single Zelda game among the 50 best selling Nintendo games ever. The multiplayer party games have always sold better on their systems.
If the switch was available in stores, along with more games for it, then sales would have been a little different. Other than that, I'm glad that Horizon is doing really good...I want the game, just waiting until I play some of my backlog of games first, and I was also waiting for the External hard drive to arrive (which it did, so downloading everything took time). So many other games to play on the PS4, and still wanting Horizon and Last Guardian, then seeing Lego Worlds puts that on the 'want' list, and the upcoming Crash Trilogy coming...too many games, and I'm still waiting to see a release date set for New Hot Shots Golf in the US!!! If a new Buzz game is coming for PS4, then I'll be in heaven!!!
@BAMozzy
Hey, I never told you that!
I really want to play Zelda, but Nintendo are making it hard to buy essentially a gimmick console every few years to play one or two excellent first party games, and a lot of other not so excellent stuff.
Infact, I'd probably rather play Zelda, but will more likely buy and play Horizon for exactly this reason.
Over the last few weeks, I've picked up Sniper Elite 4, Horizon, and Wildlands.
Played SE4 pretty solid, and had a bit of a go on Wildlands... but I just can't leave Horizon alone at the moment.
to be fair Wildlands has had a lot of marketing, on TV and also it's in your face as soon as you go into Tesco or something... I wonder what the breakdown of platforms is for this - I'm sure Xbox people are dying to play any new thing on it at the moment!
The more I play it, the more I love it. I really really disliked the game when I tried it in beta, but reviews and my brother convinced me to get it. Now, even with Horizon and NieR unfinished, Ghost Recon has been my go to game. It's just so addictive.
I'm glad Horizon is selling well, it is truly a fantastic game. Personally, I'd rate it better than Uncharted 4 in every department.
Not a surprise. People like shooting stuff.
I think that's because people like coop games, same with destiny, althought the game is just okay imo but playing it with friends it way more fun.
Also yay at nier automata at sixth place, finally a critical & commercial success yoko taro games
hardly surprising that's it's launched well it's multiplatform
@BAMozzy don't forget that PS4 has 40 million more consoles out there than Switch & U combined im not surprised Horizon is selling better
@ApostateMage been playing Horizon since launch and I'm honestly coming round to the point that it's the best PlayStation exclusive in the history of the platform - everything about it is just so solid
Looks like it's not just Americans who like shooting stuff.
I must admit, there's something about soloing and setting up the 4 way sync shot that is extremely satisfying (except when I miss). That said, I bought Nier.
I've started to stop collecting collectibles in games due to not having many hours to play because of family but GR: Wildlands is addictive at making me want to collect everything in each province. Best game this year so far imo, deserves to be at the top of the charts.
Good stuff i've heard nothing but good thing's about this game, I heard it's long it's pretty hard at time's and there's a hell of a lot to get your teeth into, everything needed for a decent game. I'll certainly be playing this some time in the near future. I wasn't paying £300 to play Zelda even though I really want to it's something i'll play in a year or so or maybe even never, such a shame
Seems to be that the majority like mindlessly shooting each other online. Great to see Horizon still up there, best game I've played this year and I have Zelda, when my refund for South Park comes through I'll be picking up Nier 😃
Well I'm one person that bought a Switch and Zelda instead of Horizon. Since I finished it on Friday I picked up Nier. I'll get to Horizon eventually... Though Persona 5 isn't far off...
Wildlands though, I thought the game was so bad from playing the beta. Really surprised it's selling so well. It seemed so unpolished. And even worse than The Division imo
I usually like Ubisoft's games a lot but this one is just boring and soulless.
Lego Worlds 3rd that is remarkable considering the big titles around it were highly publisised.
Looking at the header image, I'm not surprised whatever this game is sold well. Grizzled white guy loaded down with guns, military fetishism... YUCK!
Glad to see Horizon is doing well. Looks like Sony was smart to pump so much money into its advertising budget. The PS4 is at its peak right now, which gives me some hope that Persona 5 will sell well in the West.
Not surprised about Zelda numbers, considering it's a launch title for a system that is currently extremely difficult to find and the swansong for a home console that almost nobody wanted. Even then, it's apparently Nintendo's highest selling non-bundled launch game to date. Zelda will be an evergreen release, of course, and continue to sell well for years to come.
I said in that poll here at Pushsquare Sony had nothing to worry about regarding Zelda & the switch, glad its doing well because it's an excellent game in everyway Horizon that is.
I don't know who is still buying it but anyone going into GTA V now is getting a heck of a lot of game for their money. I dived back into Online a bit ago and it was overwhelming.
Same market as The Division, they'll buy any old rubbish, as long as they enjoy it I suppose.
Gotta say i am shocked too. I played the beta and thought it would be okay, great if you played with friends but dam never thought it would top Horizon, gg ubisoft
not bashing but I thought this game was really bad, played the open beta for a few hours. I have played my fair share of fps and 3rd person games.
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