Nintendo Dominates UK Weekly Sales Charts

Nintendo format titles have taken a clean sweep of the entire UK top ten this week, in results that mirror the company’s total domination of the Japanese market of a year ago. All but one of the games are exclusive to either the Wii or Nintendo DS, while five of the titles in the top ten are published by Nintendo themselves. The number one selling title, in both the combined and single format charts, is hardware bundle Wii Fit. Despite the title still proving relatively difficult to locate in some areas, sales increased by 32 percent this week. Combined sales of movie tie-in WALL-E rose by 12 percent from the previous week, with the Nintendo DS version at number nine in the charts, the Wii version at number twenty and the PlayStation 2 version entering the top forty for the first time at number thirty-two. With the UK school summer holidays now in full swing, other mainstream titles saw similar increases, with sales of Mario Kart Wii up 23 percent, while Guitar Hero: On Tour on the Nintendo DS saw an increase of 46 percent in its second week and Brain Training (aka Brain Age) was up by 14 percent. Although there are no genuine new entries in the top forty, widespread discounting and bundling of Midway’s Nintendo DS title Touchmaster saw it re-enter the charts at number seventeen. Buzz! Quiz TV on PlayStation 3 also re-enters the top forty, at number thirty-nine, following its initial release three weeks ago. Overall in the top forty there are sixteen Nintendo DS titles, thirteen for the Wii, five for the PlayStation 3, four for the Xbox 360, one each for the PSP and PlayStation 2, and none for the PC.

Leisure software charts compiled by Chart Track, (C)2008. ELSPA Ltd