FIFA 19 is back to top

The UK physical charts have shown that this year’s black Friday sales were down from 2017 by 4.6 percent on revenue, and 6.7 percent on units sold. Despite the decrease 1.66 million boxed games were sold in the UK, generating £53 million in revenue.

Black Friday for 2018 was considerably longer than in previous years, with certain retailers offering consumers deals for as long as two weeks before the holiday weekend. The UK physical chart also doesn’t take into account any digital sales that occured over the sales period, which must be significant given the rise of digital purchases in 2018 alone.

At the top of the UK physical chart this week was FIFA 19, thanks to heavy discounts from EA and the sale of PlayStation 4 console bundles. FIFA 19 sold for an average price of £30 on the Nintendo Switch, and a little under £40 on Xbox One and PlayStation 4, leading to a rise in sales of 177 percent. Call of Duty: Black Ops 4 also saw a 360 percent rise in sales. Discounts helped the game push up to second place in the chart, with an average price sold of around £35.

The big new release for the week, Battlefield 5, debuted in fourth place in the chart. Launch sales were down by 63 percent compared to the launch of Battlefield 1, indicating that the game is struggling already. However, EA offered early access on the title for those who signed up to EA Access, which could be where many consumers chose to pre-order a copy. Battlefield 5 did perform better than both Assassin’s Creed Odyssey and Fallout 76 in their opening weeks, despite being down on the previous game in the franchise. Around 50 percent of all physical copies of Battlefield 5 sold were for Xbox One.

Further down the chart Farming Simulator 2019 debuted in 16th place in the chart, and bendy and the Ink Machine entered in 30th place. Both of these are good considering they would have been close to full price at launch during a heavy sales shopping period.

Fallout 76 is holding on in seventh place in the chart. Bethesda discounted the title only a week after launch in order to capitalise on sales for Black Friday, but even so week-on-week sales dropped by 51 percent.

Pokemon Let’s Go Pikachu saw a drop in sales of 43 percent week-on-week, falling to eighth place in the chart. Pokemon Let’s Go Eevee fell a little further to 18th place with a drop in sales of 55 percent week-on-week.

Spyro Reignited Trilogy fell from first to ninth place in the chart in just a week, with a drop in sales of 62 percent week-on-week. This was the hardest drop for any game over the week, but can easily be attributed to discounts on every other title.

Over the course of Black Friday, according to GamesIndustry.biz, 300,000 consoles were sold, with the PlayStation 4 being the best-selling console, the Xbox One the second best, and the Nintendo Switch the third best. The average selling price for a PlayStation 4 console over the holiday period was £220, for an Xbox One it was £170, and for a Nintendo Switch it was around £240.

Due to the increase in console bundle sales Forza Horizon 4 shot up the hart to fifth place with a 535 percent increase in sales, Minecraft Master Edition to 33rd with a 1768 percent increase in sales, and Forza Motorsport 7 to 34th with a 573 percent increase in sales. Spider-Man and God of War saw similar results, rising to 6th with a sales increase of 634 percent, and 21st with a sales increase of 1283 percent respectively.

Nintendo Switch console bundle sales also boosted staple Nintendo titles. Mario Kart 8 Deluxe Edition made it to tenth place with a sales increase of 98 percent, Super Mario Party rose to 24th place with a sales increase of 110 percent, Super Mario Odyssey rose to 25th place with a similar rise of 110 percent, and The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild rose to 38th place with a 111 percent increase in sales.

PlayStation VR also saw a boost from the holiday spending period. The hardware bundles were available for around £170 on average, with the game included in the starter pack, PlayStation VR Worlds, rising to 15th place with a 204 percent increase in sales. Astro Bot Rescue Mission, a recently released and highly praised VR title, also saw a boost as part of the hardware bundles, rising to 19th place in the chart with a 242 percent increase in sales.

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