Given that there were no new releases this week in the industry, it was up to the regular faces to compete for supremacy in the UK all-format charts. And that somewhat mooted battle was won by Rockstar Games’ Grand Theft Auto V, which reclaimed the number one spot for the third time.
We say mooted because, even though GTA V took the proverbial crown in this week’s standings, sales of the sandbox title dropped 51% relative to last week, underlining the effect of the annual post-Christmas lull. Here is this week’s top ten in full, as provided by Chart-Track.
1) Grand Theft Auto V
2) Call of Duty: Advanced Warfare
3) FIFA 15
4) Far Cry 4
5) The Crew
6) Assassin’s Creed: Unity
7) Minecraft: PlayStation Edition
8) Minecraft: Xbox Edition
9) Destiny
10) Middle-earth: Shadow of Mordor
Just recently, it was announced that thanks to the current-gen release, Grand Theft Auto V broke past 40 million sales worldwide, which positions Rockstar’s magnum opus as the second best-selling game in history behind Wii Sports — mind you, Nintendo’s motion-centric title was bundled with every Wii outside of Japan and South Korea.
As for the remainder of the charts, it was largely business as usual with the likes of Call of Duty: Advanced Warfare and FIFA 15 rounding out the top three. Ubisoft’s The Crew inched past Unity to squeeze into the top five, while Minecraft continues to sell like gangbusters across PlayStation and Xbox platforms. Destiny and Monolith Productions’ Middle-earth: Shadow of Mordor rounded out the top ten.
Looking ahead to next week and it’s unlikely that any title will make a big enough impact to dislodge Grand Theft Auto V from the top, and considering that the next notable triple-A game isn’t due until January 27 — when Dying Light shuffles onto consoles and PC — it looks to be that Rockstar Games’ opus will remain at number one for some time yet.
