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UK Sales Chart, Week Ending December 17th

The official UK Christmas number one has been announced as Electronic Arts’ Need For Speed: Most Wanted. This is the second year in a row in which the franchise ha...

David Jenkins, Blogger

December 20, 2005

2 Min Read
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The official UK Christmas number one has been announced as Electronic Arts’ Need For Speed: Most Wanted. This is the second year in a row in which the franchise has been the number one Christmas title in the UK (it also reached number one in 2003, but not until the week ending December 27th), although its victory in the end was by a narrow margin. As expected, the top ten has changed very little from the previous week, with the release of The Chronicles of Narnia and King Kong movies only occurring in the last few dates covered by the Christmas chart. This does make it quite possible that King Kong could possibly take over the top spot next week, although it will still be denied the official title of Christmas number one. The only new entry in the top forty is Crazy Frog Racer, based on the popular ringtone character The Annoying Thing. Despite a negative critical response, the title’s strong entry suggests it may have become a serious Christmas contender if released slightly earlier. In the end, the only real movement of note is the sudden appearance of True Crime: New York City at number nine in the charts, following drastic price cutting by many online and High Street stores for both it and Call of Duty 2: Big Red One to just £19.99 ($35). Indeed, King Kong has also seen its price slashed to £24.99 ($44) or lower this week, suggesting that the success of some games in the top ten has come at a considerable price. The suggested retail price of new home console titles in the UK is £39.99 ($71), with new titles generally selling at a discount of £5 to £10 in most large stores. New Xbox 360 games are supposed to retail at £44.99 ($79), creating an unusually large price range for new titles that is causing considerable consternation amongst UK retailers.

TW

LW

Title

Publisher

Formats

Weeks

1

1

Need for Speed: Most Wanted

EA

All Formats

4

2

4

Peter Jackson's King Kong

Ubisoft

All Formats

5

3

3

Call of Duty: Big Red One

Activision

PS2/Xb/GC

5

4

2

FIFA 06

EA

All Formats

12

5

5

Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire

EA

PS2/Xb/GC/PC/GBA/DS

6

6

6

Pro Evolution Soccer 5

Konami

PS2/Xb/PC/PSP

9

7

8

The Chronicles of Narnia: The Lion, The Witch and The Wardrobe

Disney

PS2/PC/GBA/DS

4

8

7

Star Wars: Battlefront II

Activision

PS2/Xb/PC/PSP

8

9

17

True Crime: New York City

Activision

PS2/Xb/GC

4

10

10

The Sims 2

EA

All Formats

58

Official UK Leisure Software Charts (c) ELSPA compiled by Chart-Track

About the Author

David Jenkins

Blogger

David Jenkins ([email protected]) is a freelance writer and journalist working in the UK. As well as being a regular news contributor to Gamasutra.com, he also writes for newsstand magazines Cube, Games TM and Edge, in addition to working for companies including BBC Worldwide, Disney, Amazon and Telewest.

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