Call of Duty: Black Ops 4 releases and takes the top

The UK physical sales charts show that Call of Duty: Black Ops 4 had lower launch sales than last year’s entry to the franchise, Call of Duty: WW2, by almost half. Sales were also down compared to those of the last game in the Black Ops series, Call of Duty: Black Ops 3, by 59 percent. This data shows the weakest launch for a Call of Duty game since Call of Duty 4: Modern Warfare launched in 2007.

However, this data is only based on the physical sales the games have made, and since digital purchases have been increasing steadily over the years it’s easy to think that many consumers simply purchased their copy of Black Ops 4 online. Activision has confirmed this today, telling press and fans that Call of Duty: Black Ops 4 had the strongest day one digital sales in franchise history.

Call of Duty Black Ops 4 made it to first place in the UK physical chart despite the lack of sales compared to previous releases. The game pushed FIFA 19 down into second place, which also shifted Assassin’s Creed Odyssey into third. It’s likely that Call of Duty will remain at the top of the chart, since it has been launched earlier this year than the games are traditionally, mid-November.

41 percent of the Black Ops 4 sales were for Xbox One, and 58 percent were for Playstation 4, with the remainder for PC.

Another new release this week has entered the top of the chart in fourth place, WWE 2K19. Physical sales for the title were down by 37.5 percent compared to last year , with 66 percent for Playstation 4 and the remainder for Xbox One.

Sales of Assassin’s Creed Odyssey have dropped by 54 percent compared to last week, but the game is still holding strong against the competition. Similarly Forza Horizon 4 saw a drop of 67 percent in sales, falling from third place in the chart to fifth.

Super Mario Party, a new entry last week, has fallen to seventh place this week from fifth due to a drop in sales of 45 percent. Another Nintendo Switch title entered the chart this week in 21st place, The World Ends With You: Final Remix.

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