Top 10 UK Sales Chart: Star Wars Battlefront 2 Didn't Finish Top In Debut Week
Star Wars Battlefront II launched on PS4, Xbox One, and PC amid much controversy last week, and now it has failed to top the UK chart for its first week on sale. The sci-fi shooter was "narrowly" beaten by Call of Duty: WWII in that game's third week of availability, according to sales monitor Chart Track.
What's more, GamesIndustry.biz reports that Battlefront II's UK physical sales were down 61% compared to the 2015 series reboot, Star Wars Battlefront. Some of that shortfall would have been recovered in increasing digital sales, but it's unlikely enough units would have been sold over PSN, Xbox Live, and Origin to make up that gulf.
Battlefront II has been shrouded in controversy since its beta in October. Fans accused the game's multiplayer progression system of being confusing and "pay-to-win," before EA tweaked how it worked and later removed microtransactions altogether, albeit temporarily. The company's stock price has since fallen. We awarded the game a 6/10 in our Star Wars Battlefront 2 review-in-progress.
In contrast, Call of Duty: WWII launched two weeks prior to critical acclaim and commercial success. During its opening weekend, the game sold twice as many copies as Infinite Warfare did during the same period last year, taking over $500m in that period. Microtransactions are coming to Call of Duty: WWII, though they've been delayed so lingering server issues could be fixed.
Below the pair of shooters in the UK chart this week lies FIFA 18, while Pokemon Ultra Sun and Ultra Moon debut at No.4 and No.5, respectively. We enjoyed the pair of new Pokemon games; critic Kallie Plagge said they offer a "fun-filled and uplifting Pokemon adventure" that includes "enough changes to stand apart as the definitive version of the seventh generation games." Read more in our full Pokemon Ultra Sun / Ultra Moon review.
Other new titles this week include The Sims 4--which has just launched on PS4 and Xbox One following its PC release in 2014--at No.7, LA Noire Remastered at No.8, and Lego Marvel Super Heroes 2 at No.10. You can read the full top 10 sales chart below, courtesy of UKIE and Chart-Track. Note this table does not include digital sales data, and so should not be considered representative of all UK game sales.
