God of War Ragnarok back on top of charts as more PS5 stock arrives

God of War Ragnarok, Sony’s latest big-budget console exclusive, is back on top of the chart thanks to the increased supply of PlayStation 5 consoles in the UK. As part of the best-selling hardware bundle with the console, God of War Ragnarok got a boost going into the Holiday season. Overall sales of the game were up 32% from last week, directly correlating with a rise in hardware sales.

Right behind God of War is a pair of multiplatform titles, FIFA 23 and Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2. Each of these games has been at or close to the top of the sales chart since release, with little signs of slowing down over the Holidays. Sales for each were down only 18% and 14% respectively, maintaining impressive staying power.

Pokemon Scarlet and Violet broke further apart this week, with Violet climbing to number 4, while Scarlet stays back at number 7. Violet had a 121% sales drop, yet gained ground due to titles boosted by Black Friday sales on last week’s chart, such as Mario Kart 8, which dropped by 32% once the sales ended. Fan sentiment leading to poor word of mouth is dragging down sales of the latest Pokemon games, while the overall numbers are still good, they could have and should have, been better.

The Callisto Protocol, one of last week’s new releases, fell out of the top 10 to number 12 with a 69% decrease in sales. More impressively, Need for Speed Unbound, another new title last week, only dropped 13%. Such a small decrease for the second week of sales can be attributed to strong word of mouth and good reviews, most titles experience significantly larger drops, pointing towards a potential long tail for EA’s latest racer.

This week’s only new title was the boxed version of Iam8bit’s Cuphead, coming in at number 18. The hard-as-nails sidescroller has been available digitally for years.

Finally, the Nintendo Switch’s increased sales over Black Friday have boosted software sales on the console. Exclusive Mario games, ranging from Mario + Rabbids: Kingdom Battle (6% increase), to New Super Mario Bros. U Deluxe (49% increase) and even Luigi’s Mansion 3 (10% increase) benefitted from sales for the Holidays. After trailing Sony and Microsoft’s consoles all year, the Nintendo Switch has a chance of becoming the best-selling console of the year in the UK, with the late surge greatly benefitting boxed Switch titles.