Marvel’s Spider-Man releases and takes the top

As befitting a game based around a character who bounds from New York skyscraper to skyscraper, Insomniac Games’ Spider-Man has sprung to the top of the weekly UKIE/GFK sales charts.

Not only did the latest video game rendering of the Marvel superhero top the charts but it did so in style. Spider-Man is the quickest selling game in 2018 so far and the fastest selling in the best part of a year. We have to look back to November 2017 and the release of Call of Duty: WWII to find a game with more impressive first week sales stats.

Spider-Man’s achievement is rendered all the more impressive by the fact that it is a PS4 exclusive. The game it replaced as the fastest selling title in 2018, Far Cry 5, was available on the Xbox One and PC as well as the PS4 but still wasn’t able to match Spider-Man’s stellar first week performance.

Indeed, Spider-Man sold twice as many copies in its first week on sale as the next highest PS4 exclusive of 2018, God of War. After Batman: Arkham Knight it is the fastest selling superhero game of this console generation and the fastest-selling Marvel game of all time – a record previously held by LEGO Marvel Super Heroes.

All told, a successful launch for Spider-Man on PS4!

Another new release PS4 exclusive, Dragon Quest XI: Echoes of an Elusive Age, entered the charts in second place, highlighting just how effective the PS4 is as a sales platform. The role-playing game, initially released in Japan in July 2017, is the latest in the long-running Dragon Quest series and has already shipped three million copies in the Asian market.

The other new entrant to the charts this week is Destiny 2: Forsaken, a DLC for Bungie’s popular online shooter.

Grand Theft Auto V continues to sell steadily in third place, but last week’s number one and two, F1 2018 and Pro Evolution Soccer 2019, drop to fourth and sixth places, respectively.

Retailers and wholesalers will be encouraged by the positive start to the pre-Christmas gaming schedule. Spider-Man’s impressive first week sales bode well for a two-month period where big titles like FIFA 19, Shadow of the Tomb Raider and Red Dead Redemption 2 hit the shelves. It could prove a lucrative period for the games industry.

A more extended list of top sellers can be found here.