Assassin’s Creed Slips Ahead Of Mario In UK Charts

In what continues to be one of the most cutthroat Christmas retail periods in years, Ubisoft’s Assassin’s Creed has debuted at the top spot in both the combined and individual format charts in the UK. The Xbox 360 version garnered 67 percent of all sales of the title and became the second fastest selling new intellectual property on an individual format, behind only PlayStation 2 exclusive The Getaway from 2002. Despite receiving the most mixed reviews so far for any of the major Christmas blockbusters, Assassin’s Creed also becomes the fastest selling Xbox 360 ever in the UK, within a weekly sales period, behind only Halo 3 and last week’s Call of Duty 4 (which saw sales drop 33 percent overall in its second week). Nintendo’s Super Mario Galaxy became the fastest selling Wii game ever in the UK, with a debut at number three in the individual formats chart and at number five in the combined formats chart. Nintendo will no doubt be hoping the game enjoys the same longevity of Brain Training (aka Brain Age), which saw a 62 percent rise in sales this week and a move of one place from five to four. Just missing out on a top ten position is PC exclusive Crysis at number eleven, while the Wii version of children’s karaoke game High School Musical: Sing It! debuts at number twenty. With the PlayStation 2 version moving up four places to number eight overall, sales of Disney's game have risen 170 percent on the previous week. The Wii version of Lego Star Wars: The Complete Saga debuts at number twenty-six, also pushing overall sales of the title up six places to number eleven in the combined formats charts. Despite the large number of other new releases this week, no other new title makes its mark in the top forty, although Deal or No Deal on Nintendo DS does enter at number twenty-two in its second week. Although no figures are provided by Chart-Track, the re-entry of Wii Play at twenty-four is usually a sure indicator of increased Wii hardware stock, especially with the reappearance of Mario Party 8 at number thirty-one.

Leisure software charts compiled by Chart Track, (C)2007. ELSPA Ltd