UK top 40: Modern Warfare 3 sells fewer than Black Ops

By Robert Purchese Published 14 November, 2011

Skyrim, second, is fifth biggest of 2011.

UPDATE: The Association for UK Interactive Entertainment has been in touch to say the "just under two million units sales" and £83.1 million revenue figures for Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 3 are "unverified" and should be disregarded.

ORIGINAL STORY: Modern Warfare 3 demolished all opposition to conquer the UK video game sales chart this week.

Surprisingly, Modern Warfare 3 sold fewer units in the UK in one week than previous Call of Duty instalment Black Ops.

Modern Warfare 3 sold "just under" two million copies - 1.6 per cent less than Black Ops, according to Gfk Chart-Track.

However, Modern Warfare 3 took more money than Black Ops, raking in £83.1 million - 1.5 per cent more.

Combine the money made by Modern Warfare 3 and Black Ops' in their opening weeks, and they total more than the combined opening weekends of all eight Harry Potter films in the UK.

More copies of Modern Warfare 3 were sold on Xbox 360 than on PlayStation 3 - 59 per cent to 41 per cent.

Activision announced that Modern Warfare 3 sold a record breaking 6.5 million copies in the US and UK in one day. Those sales generated $400 million, which made Modern Warfare 3 the biggest entertainment launch - including movies' opening weekends - ever.

Modern Warfare 3's unassailable lead meant RPG Goliath Skyrim settled for a second-place debut. But what a second-place; Skyrim had the fifth biggest opening week of the year (after Modern Warfare 3, FIFA 12, Battlefield 3 and only just behind Gears of War 3). Also, Skyrim more than doubled the opening week tally of Fallout: New Vegas, making it Bethesda's fastest selling game ever.

Xbox 360 claimed a huge retail majority of Skyrim sales, with 59 per cent. Only 26 per cent of shop-bought Skyrim copies were on PS3, and 15 per cent were on PC (digital sales aren't counted).

The launch of two huge titles, plus a chart filled with numerous blockbusters, meant this week was the biggest ever for UK video games. Total take for the week was £120.8 million (you can see how much Modern Warfare 3 dominated).

Uncharted 3 was sixth, followed by Nintendo DS newcomer Moshi Monsters: Moshling Zoo. Moshi Monsters is a massive web-based MMO for kids, in case you're wondering.

Batman: Arkham City, Zumba Fitness and Wii Party rounded out the top 10.

This Week Last Week Title Platform(s)
1 New entry Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 3 DS, PC, PS3, Wii, Xbox 360
2 New entry The Elder Scrolls 5: Skyrim PC, PS3, Xbox 360
3 1 Battlefield 3 PC, PS3, Xbox 360
4 3 FIFA 12 PS3, Xbox 360
5 5 Just Dance 3 Wii, Xbox 360
6 2 Uncharted 3 PS3
7 New entry Moshi Monsters: Moshling Zoo DS
8 4 Batman: Arkham City PS3, Xbox 360
9 8 Zumba Fitness Wii, PS3, Xbox 360
10 38 Wii Party Xbox 360
11 9 Skylanders: Spyro's Adventure 3DS, PS3, Wii, Xbox 360
12 7 Forza 4 Xbox 360
13 15 Michael Jackson: The Experience DS, PS3, Wii, Xbox 360
14 6 Football Manager 2012 PC
15 12 Kinect Sports: Season 2 Xbox 360
16 14 Lego Pirates of the Caribbean 3DS, DS, PC, PS3, Wii, Xbox 360
17 20 Rage PC, PS3, Xbox 360
18 13 PES 2012 PS3, PC, Xbox 360
19 22 Tintin: Secret of the Unicorn 3DS, PS3, Wii, Xbox 360
20 11 F1 2011 PC, PS3, Xbox 360
21 10 Sonic Generations PS3, Xbox 360
22 27 Cars 2 DS, PC, PS3, Wii, Xbox 360
23 21 Mario Kart Wii Wii
24 16 GoldenEye Reloaded PS3, Xbox 360
25 17 The Sims 3: Pets 3DS, PC, PS3, Xbox 360
26 18 Deus Ex: Human Revolution PC, PS3, Xbox 360
27 24 Driver: San Francisco PC, PS3, Xbox 360
28 35 Just Dance 2 Wii
29 19 Gears of War 3 Xbox 360
30 23 Dead Island PC, PS3, Xbox 360
31 25 Disney Universe PS3, Wii, Xbox 360
32 26 Wii Sports Resort Wii
33 39 Dance Central 2 Xbox 360
34 29 Lego Harry Potter: Years 1-4 DS, PC, PS3, PSP, Wii, Xbox 360
35 28 The Sims 3 DS, PC, PS3, Xbox 360
36 30 Assassin's Creed: Brotherhood PC, PS3, Xbox 360
37 33 Let's Draw DS
38 Re-entry L.A. Noire PC, PS3, Xbox 360
39 New entry Go Vacation Wii
40 34 Lego Star Wars III: The Clone Wars 3DS, DS, PC, PS3, PSP, Wii, Xbox 360

UKIE Games Charts compiled by GfK Chart-Track.

Picture of Robert.

About Robert Purchese

Bertie is Eurogamer's Senior Staff Writer. When he's not hunting down news stories he's often found playing with his kids or gabbling about fantasy games and strange online worlds. @Clert on Twitter.

Read more articles from Robert by visiting the Robert Purchese archive page.

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Comments (35) Latest comment 6 months ago

Comments for this article are now closed, but please feel free to continue chatting on the forum!

  • MinerWilly #1 6 months ago

    I had a feeling this might have been the case , seemed to be a lot less buzz in the shop where i work on release day compared to the Blops release .

  • TeaFiend #2 6 months ago

    Clarification:"Combine the money made by Modern Warfare 3 and Black Ops' in their opening weeks, and they total more than the combined opening weekends of all eight Harry Potter films in the UK."

    Does the first part refer to opening week in the UK for the games or are we comparing mismatched figures?

  • NotSoSlim #3 6 months ago

    Well Black Ops didnt have a BF to contend with

  • evild_edd #4 6 months ago

    Impressive numbers all round.

    MW3 numbers are still astonishing when you think that it's launching in the same week as Skyrim (which a lot of gamers will be keeping their gaming calendar free for), and with some FPS fans perhaps sticking with the BF3 MP (me included here).

    Been a ridiculously strong end to the year for releases. A lot of people just seem to be adopting a "fuck it - I'll just buy them all" philosophy.... :0)

  • stevetuck #5 6 months ago

    Y U NO POST LIST

  • CrunchinJelly #6 6 months ago

    Skyrim bomba.

  • Xardan #7 6 months ago

    Kinda strange considering MW3 actually has British characters and a section set in London whereas Black Ops was as American as it gets.

  • lockload #8 6 months ago

    The way i see it is since last years release a good few million ps3/360 have been sold, this year should of been up by at least 5%

    MW3 = Failure ;)
    Edited by lockload at 14/11/11 @ 10:22

  • Vedfolner #9 6 months ago

    But what will the producers do when all those preowned copies start to materialize themselves at retail? They haven't made a penny out of those! Oh wait ...

  • lockload #10 6 months ago

    @Vedfolner Will they care? Most games would be over the moon to sell 2 million WORLDWIDE in its lifetime
    Edited by lockload at 14/11/11 @ 10:23

  • gillri #11 6 months ago

    Indedd BF3 and familiarity would have dented MW3 sales a tad

    Im still surprised at how much Gears of War 3 sold considering its an exclusive title. I mean yes there arent that many great exlcusvies on Xbox 360 but still, very impressive figure when it more than competing with big multi-plats for bestb seeling game of the year

    Uncharted 3 shold be selling that many. I dont know what it is but the big PS3 exclusives never seem to sale like Halo or Gears

  • Vedfolner #12 6 months ago

    @lockload

    I will bet you a million online passes/DLC vouchers that they will care.

  • Sodding_Gamer #13 6 months ago

    This, is good news. Hopefully the sales for COD will go down each year, so developers can stop the need for copying formulas and be more daring and creative, without the fear of the COD mammoth eating up their sales.

  • evild_edd #14 6 months ago

    @gillri: really good point there - Gears 3 outselling Skyrim in 1st week sales is quite remarkable considering the latter's a muti-format release. With no 'new' Halo this year though, Gears was the big 360 exclusive....

    It's also worth remembering that The Elder Scrolls series originates from the PC, and that there will no doubt be huge digital sales for PC, which aren't included in these sales figures.

    Still, imagine most will agree that Gears 3 sold phenomenally well, and agree that they'd like to see more Uncharted sales as well.

  • Mr_Brown #15 6 months ago

    I'm glad to see Skyrim doing well, I knew it would but just goes to show that an RPG can sell well if developers invest over here.

    Overall it's a great time to be a gamer, so many great games out that deserve to do well. It's just shame they had to come out at the same time.

  • Buenos_Estente #16 6 months ago

    Its hard to tell the health of the pc market when digital sales arent included.. i buy the majority of my games on it digitally

  • matty_matt_mattmatt #17 6 months ago

    pretty sure skyrim woulda had about a 300000+ sold on the digital download

  • Jonny5Alive7 #18 6 months ago

    @evild_edd I'd imagine Skyrim will have sold more than Gears when you include the digital copies.

  • kar #19 6 months ago

    When you factor in inflation, MW3's revenues look very dire compared to Black Ops.

    Looks like the COD juggernaut, finally, has jumped the shark.

  • rockavitch #20 6 months ago

    It's no real surprise, I didn't expect them to outsell BLOPs judging from the "lack" of hype for it around these parts, to be fair with Battlefield and Skyrim etc all around the same time I'm pretty sure Activision felt the same way which is why they bumped the RRP up by around a fiver. Less sales maybe but still more profit.

  • MDL199 #21 6 months ago

    The PS3 pulling in 41% of sales of Modern Warfare 3 is actually very good when you consider the franchise is so closely linked with Xbox,

    Shocked at poor PS3 sales for Skyrim though which I expected to do well on the platform as I like to think we're a slightly more ckassy audience,

  • stevethemeat #22 6 months ago

    I own a PS3 and a 360, does this make me half classy and half chav?

    Its truly ridiculous how owning one console can make you feel more "classy".

  • rockavitch #23 6 months ago

    @MDL199 We got the worst version of Oblivion I believe so maybe a few people didn't want to chance it this time, although maybe some people are holding out after spending their game budget on Uncharted 3.

  • Acquiescence #24 6 months ago

    So is this the first initial sign that the Call Of Duty franchise is decreasing in popularity? Oh Lord, let it be so. These annual rehashes are tiresome now more than ever. It's a never-ending cycle and before we know it, Activision will be announcing the next installment in the series. I mean seriously, what other conflict can they use as a backdrop. The Korean War? The Falklands?! The Battle Of Hastings?!?

  • rockavitch #25 6 months ago

    @Acquiescence Call Of Duty:1066, now that's a game I would play, would be Day 1 for me.

  • evild_edd #26 6 months ago

    @rockavitch: I fear you're more likely to see COD MW 1066.....with the number not relating to a year for the setting, unfortunately.

  • flaming.carrot #27 6 months ago

    This is the first COD I've not bought since pre-MW1, so I did my bit.
    Edited by flaming.carrot at 14/11/11 @ 11:46

  • lolercopter #28 6 months ago

    It was looking good for Sonic Generations. I wasn't expecting such a fall... Not good for Sega, probably good for me since it will get a price cut sooner than I would expect.

  • KungFuSpoon #29 6 months ago

    Regardless of the validity of the figures I wouldn't find it at all surprising if the CoD franchise has plateaued, for one there's a ceiling for everything and for two as with Guitar Hero they've polished the game to a mirror shine but underneath it's still the same game. No matter how tight, polished and better looking the game is without any real innovation the series will just stagnate, even to the least sophisticated of gamers, I think the more savy gamers are wising up to this like every other franchise that has been milked by EA or Activision.

  • Sodding_Gamer #30 6 months ago

    @MDL199

    You truly are retarded.

  • LazyDan #31 6 months ago

    Think you might need to check that list... Pretty sure Wii Party isn't an XBox 360 exclusive.
    Edited by LazyDan at 14/11/11 @ 12:08

  • miiiguel #32 6 months ago

    The ckassy audience, has a sense of gang which is endearing. They tap each on the back and bad mouth other people. It's funny, after all these years.

  • Geordiemp #33 6 months ago

    There have been so many good games out recently, BF3, UC3, Gears, Batman City, Skrym, COD MW3

    Many will be playing on or 2 of them and getting the rest they want for xmas. I for one have not bough Uc3 yet but love the series for single player and coop, so it can wait for santa...

    Think sales numbers norw till xmas will be more revealing.
    Edited by Geordiemp at 14/11/11 @ 12:26

  • Incarta #34 6 months ago

    10 38 Wii Party Xbox 360

    errr...

    Also, MW3 took more money then any entertainment launch ever and people are calling it a failure? Mind-boggling. I didn't buy it, but credit where credit's due.

    Same with the Skyrim bombed comments. Idiocy. Nothing beats COD on COD launch day. At least not these days. It'll likely still be Number 1 next week as well, beating Halo, Assassin's Creed and Zelda.

  • knightmt #35 6 months ago

    Before Blops I would have bought MW3 day one. But there are loads of great games currently, I am holding of skyrim for the dark months jan/feb.