COD4 shoots to the top

By Tom Bramwell Published 13 November, 2007

Charts: Mission accomplished.

Call of Duty 4: Modern Warfare blasted its way to the top of the charts this week thanks in particular to a strong performance on Xbox 360, which accounted for 63 percent of the multi-platform game's weekend sales according to Chart-Track's latest data.

THQ's WWE SmackDown vs. Raw 2008 claimed second place, having launched on six formats including next-generation consoles. However, PlayStation 2 owners accounted for 44 percent of its sales, demonstrating that the console's tail still has some wag to it.

Elsewhere in the top ten, The Simpsons Game held firm at number three thanks in part to the launch of PS3 and PSP SKUs, while last week's top two - Konami's Pro Evolution Soccer 2008 and EA Sports' FIFA 08 - sank to four and five respectively as sales slowed.

Nintendo once again bucked that trend, however, as both its Brain Training titles rose up the top ten to take sixth (Dr. Kawashima's Brain Training) and seventh (More Brain Training From Dr. Kawashima) ahead of The Sims 2: Castaway (down one place), Ratatouille (down five places to nine) and Microsoft's Halo 3 (down five to ten).

Other new releases fared less well, with Lego Star Wars: The Complete Saga struggling to find purchase in a busy week, managing only 17th place, while Sony will likely be disappointed that the critically acclaimed Ratchet & Clank: Tools of Destruction - described by some as the best PS3 game to date - could only find its way to 19th in the All-Formats Chart. Worse still, it could only make it to third on the PS3's own chart, taking up position behind WWE SmackDown vs. Raw 2008 at number two and Call of Duty 4 at one.

Activision's multi-format first-person shooter certainly won the week - thanks to releases on PC, PlayStation 3 and DS - and picked up strong review scores in the run up to launch, including a 9/10 from some jerk. The game marks a return to form for the series after original developer Infinity Ward reassumed control for the fourth instalment.

It recorded the 11th biggest weekly sell-through ever, according to Chart-Track, and is second only to Halo 3 in terms of Xbox 360 titles in that regard.

Whether it will hold on for a second week is hard to say though, as Nintendo (Super Mario Galaxy - Wii), Ubisoft (Assassin's Creed - PS3/360) and EA (Crysis - PC) all make extremely strong claims starting this Friday. Nintendo, in particular, will be expecting an upsurge in hardware sales as it introduces Mario to the Nintendo Wii in his most traditional guise yet - and in a game critics are describing as the spiritual successor to Super Mario 64, one of its most acclaimed games ever. Critics, eh? Lazy basts.

Picture of Tom.

About Tom Bramwell

Tom is Operations director of Eurogamer Network and Editor-at-Large of Eurogamer.net. He joined the company in February 2000.

Read more articles from Tom by visiting the Tom Bramwell archive page.

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Comments (21) Latest comment 7 months ago

Comments threads automatically close after 30 days, but please feel free to continue chatting on the forum!

  • ProdigyBE_OPM #1 4 years ago

    Okay... where is everyone??

  • ProdigyBE_OPM #2 4 years ago

    Ah, playing COD4, I guess.

    /turns on PS3

  • Dizzy #3 4 years ago

    Release the hounds!

  • Stonker #4 4 years ago

    What kind of name is "Soap"? Is it some kind of gay reference?

    Actually, gay is the wrong word. What i meant was "anal rape".

    Continue..........
    Edited by 1 at 13/11/07 @ 10:30

  • JediMasterMalik #5 4 years ago

    That's a real shame for Ratchet, mind you, I imported. Still, didn't sell loads in the US either.

  • NickyJD #6 4 years ago

    Infinity ward need to fix the damn lobby,I'm tired of the game freezing or not being able to find a match for ten minutes.

    Great game though, pisses all over every other FPS this generation.

  • Dizzy #7 4 years ago

    >That's a real shame for Ratchet, mind you

    As expected Mario Galaxy probably damaged the sales figures of R&C.

  • JediMasterMalik #8 4 years ago

    Mario's not even out yet...

  • Darren #9 4 years ago

    I guess Ratchet and Clank Future's low placing is a result of there being few PS3s in this country and the fact that it lacks the must-buy appeal of, say, Call of Duty 4.

    I spent the entire weekend playing this wonderful game though; it's so beautifully designed and varied, so utterly addictive, funny and gorgeous to look at that it's in my Top 5 Games of 2007 easily. As you can guess I absolutely love it. :)

    It's such a shame to see it languishing in the lower regions of the charts though when it deserves to be in the the top 5. Even if the PS3 had lots of great games, it would still stand out as a sparkling diamond in a pool of gems. Any PS3 owners that turn their noses up at this amazing game needs their head examining in my opinion (unless they absolutely loathe cartoon-based shooting-cum-platform games). The only thing wrong with it is that it's perhaps a little too easy and it's so insanely compulsive to play that you'll find it hard to put down until you've completed it. Or nearly completed it after 18 hours or so as is the case with me (I'm on the last level, set on Fastoon).

  • rhinoxious #10 4 years ago

    Started playing COD4 single player last night, it's absolutely awesome, probably the best opening pair of set-pieces I've seen since the monorail ride from the original Half-Life.

    Brilliant stuff, can't wait to get home and play more.

  • sharpfish #11 4 years ago

    I cant take this game seriously after playing crysis. The environments feel wooden and lifeless. PRe-crysis i'm sure it was one of the best in it's genre but now everything feels so dead and fake... I know many of you will misundertand my point here, I don't expect anything less.

    Still a good game, but this kind of game won't be viable much longer now games like crysis show what is possible (at least to discerning PC gamers)

  • Darren #12 4 years ago

    Call of Duty 4 runs on a £180 console, Crysis requires a £1,500-£2,000 PC to get the best out of it. Turn the detail down to Low and the game looks worst than CoD4 on the 360!!! LOL

  • Xerx3s #13 4 years ago

    sharpfish: Have fun then playing crysis on your own. You won't mind the rest of us having tons of fun in the EG MP games, do you?

  • Rirekon #14 4 years ago

    COD4:MW is an absolute blast, not touched Halo 3 all weekend. So glad to see this hit the top spot, well deserved kudos to IW :-)

  • rashes #15 4 years ago

    @farticusmaximus

    Well said. I 2nd that..

    Sharpfish.... don;t be such a complete douche.

  • bonker #16 4 years ago

    COD4 SP incredible but too darn short - gotta wait another 2 years for my fix of Infinity Ward magic? :(

  • McLovin85 #17 4 years ago

    cod4 is going to drop down the charts with people returning the game (me included) if they don't fix the online gameplay. only been able to play once online since i bought it. after that i just get the dreaded 'downloading game settings' screen. tis crap.

  • rashes #18 4 years ago

    @McLovin85

    I've had only a few issues. I'm on 360.
    What version are you playing?

    (and I'm not trying to stoke a flame war)

  • Sid-Nice #19 4 years ago

    What kind of name is "Soap"?

    SOAP ("Simple Object Access Protocol";) I doubt that this is the answer; I assume because of "Matey Bubbles" bubble bath, that soap is a reverence to mate.

  • BadBoyBonner #20 4 years ago

    CoD 4 on 360 is the game to finally convince me how fun MP FPS can be on a (modern - who cna forget Goldeneye split screen) console (360 version) - which for me is quite something with Day of Defeat on the PC being my previous fav.

    That said - for me the single player is not in the same class as CoD 2 as it feels very constricted - this may change as I have spent more time on multiplayer - and playing on Veteran is making sure it takes me longer than 5 hours to complete the single player!

    EDIT - and before anyone starts to rattle on about Halo MP (I completed the single player on legendary on all 3) - I can not remember who said it on these forums -but someone summed it all up when they said something like " I think it is complete **** when you can empty a full magazine into someone only for them to rifle but you and kill you".

    While that may be a little bit of an exaggerations I do feel that the weapons do not do as much damage as I would like to be rewarded for for accurate shots - CoD 4 does reward me (as DoD did) with just the right amount of damage for accurate shots.

  • Dizzy #21 4 years ago

    " I think it is complete **** when you can empty a full magazine into someone only for them to rifle but you and kill you".

    Just like Zombies (fast and slow ones?) you have different types on FPS games. CoD4 is, like the original RB6 and CS, a quick kill game where a few hits take you out. Halo 3 is the other type, where you last longer and can do more while being shot at. Both have different reasons to exist and different fans. The fact that you like the quick kill one doesn't mean that others don't like the slower (more tactical) FPS types.

    Anyway.. I like to have both. Sometimes I just like the tension of creeping around trying not to be seen/killed and sometimes I like to play a game like Halo, where the combat feels less stealthy and the action more streamlined and high powered.

    So H3, CoD4 and TF2 together are the ultimate console combo this year. Buy all and enjoy!!!!!
    Edited by 3 at 13/11/07 @ 15:37

  • james-mw3-mw3 #22 7 months ago

    Modern Warfare 3 will be released on 8th November! It's actually the 8th main Call of Duty game, and the fifth developed by Infinity Ward. Modern Warfare 3 multiplayer will debut at the Call of Duty XP convention on September 2 and I'm betting that they will show all the weapons and perks of MW3.