Crystal Dynamic’s Tomb Raider reboot has proven to be a smash hit for the studio’s parent company, Square Enix, by topping the UK sales charts last week and claiming the crown of 2013’s biggest video game launch, so far. While exact UK sales numbers were not released, GfK Chart-Track noted that Lara Croft easily doubled the first week sales of 2013’s previous best-seller, Aliens: Colonial Marines.
In addition to setting the new 2013 United Kingdom industry sales record, Tomb Raider (which is the tenth core game in the long-running series, and Crystal Dynamic’s fourth entry) also managed to break some of its own franchise sales records over the course of its launch week. Total unit sales were double those of Crystal Dynamic’s first TR reboot, the 2006 title Tomb Raider: Legend, and the new game has replaced the infamous (and virtually unplayable) Tomb Raider: The Angle of Darkness as the franchise’s fastest-selling title.
As for Tomb Raider sales outside of the United Kingdom, Crystal Dynamics announced last week that over one million people had played the game within the first 48 hours after its launch on March 5th. It’s unclear if the developer was referring to copies sold, shipped, or concurrent players, but either way it is an impressive accomplishment — and well deserved, I might add.
Aside from Tomb Raider, Electronic Arts’ SimCity debuted in second place, despite having released on a Friday and enduring a week of (justified) bad press over its online-only DRM. EA also found success further down the top 10 UK sales chart with Sims 3: University Life in 4th, FIFA 13 in 5th, and Crysis 3 in 6th.
The remainder of GfK Chart-Track’s top 10 consisted of; Naruto Shippunden: Ultimate Ninja Storm 3 (3rd), Call of Duty: Black Ops 2 (7th), Far Cry 3 (8th), Metal Gear Rising: Revengeance (9th), and The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim (10th).
