UK Charts: Activision vs. Blizzard As Call Of Duty Defeats WarCraft

Activision Blizzard has taken the top three places in the latest UK sales charts, with the company’s two most important franchises battling for supremacy. In the end Call of Duty: World at War won out, with the game topping the combined format charts and the Xbox 360 version debuting at number one in the individual format charts. The new Call of Duty became the third fastest-selling video game of all time in the UK, behind only Grand Theft Auto IV and Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas. Combined launch week sales of the Xbox 360, PS3 and PC versions of World at War have outsold those of the Infinity Ward developed Call of Duty 4 by more than 2 to 1. At number two, expansion pack World of WarCraft: Wrath of the Lich King became the fastest selling PC title of all time, beating the record set by Eidos’ Championship Manager 4 way back in March 2003. Although the publishing labels still operate separately, both games come from the recently merged Activision Blizzard. Combined sales of the two new titles, plus Guitar Hero - whose complete band packs were launched this week, accounted for 25 percent of all games sold during the week. The fourth new entry in the top ten, at number four, is Sega’s Football Manager 2009. The spiritual successor to the now diminished Championship Manger, by original developers Sports Interactive, the new edition has been the fastest selling of the soccer series so far. Elsewhere in the top 10 sales of Gears of War 2 fell by 64 percent, with the game down four places to number five. Nintendo’s evergreen titles continued to dominate the top ten, with sales of Professor Layton and the Curious Village up 9 percent at number six and Mario Kart Wii up 12 percent at number seven. Outside of the top 10 the highest new entry was Wii Music at number 11, which despite heavy TV advertising appears to be off to the same uncertain start as in Japan and as reported by early sales in the U.S. The new availability of the complete band packs, which launched a week after the software and standalone guitar controllers, has seen the Wii version of Guitar Hero: World Tour enter the charts at number 17 and the PS3 version at number 24. The Xbox 360 version rose 19 places to number 15, to remain the best selling version in the UK. New at number 30 is EA’s Mirror’s Edge on Xbox 360, with the PS3 version at number 39. The Wii version of Disney’s High School Musical 3: Senior Year DANCE! entered at number 32, with Midway’s More Game Party on Wii making a belated top 40 debut at number 35. A number of other older games also re-appeared in the charts, all due to new family friendly software bundles for the Xbox 360 Arcade. Lego Indiana Jones re-entered at number 20, Activision Blizzard’s Kung Fu Panada at number 23 and Rare’s Viva Piñata at number 38. Once again the unusually packed schedules, even for this time of year, saw a number of high profile casualties, with Star Wars: The Clone Wars - Lightsaber Duels, Guitar Hero: On Tour – Decades, Rayman Raving Rabbids TV Party, Scene It? Box Office Smash, Banjo-Kazooie: Nuts & Bolts, Shaun White Snowboarding and SingStar Abba all failing to chart. Overall in the top 40 there were 12 titles for the Xbox 360, nine for the Wii, eight for the PlayStation 3, six for the Nintendo DS, three for the PC, two for the PlayStation 2 and none for the PSP.

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