FIFA tops UK Charts at Christmas

By Tom Bramwell Published 23 December, 2008

Knocks COD into second.

Sales of FIFA 09 surged this week in the UK to give EA its sixth Christmas No. 1 in eight years, just a week after Call of Duty: World at War outsold it by 27,000 units.

Thanks to an 89 per cent rise in sales, and a 13 per cent dip for COD, those of you who put a fiver on the game at 6-1 last week will be happy, anyway.

Below FIFA and COD, which sit in first and second, Mario Kart Wii holds on (sales up 40 per cent - to within 3,000 units of COD), while Need for Speed: Undercover holds at fourth and Brain Training does likewise in fifth.

Otherwise it's the usual shuffle with a few decent movers, but the most impressive performance is surely Professor Layton and the Curious Village, up to eighth from outside the top 40 last week, which compiler Chart-Track attributes to Christmas appeal and renewed stock.

In other big-game news, LittleBigPlanet celebrates Christmas at 15th, Prince of Persia continues its slow climb, to 16th, and Grand Theft Auto IV creeps back into the top 40 at 39th, in a Lips and Nintendogs sandwich. Woof.

This Week Last Week Title Platform(s)
1 3 FIFA 09 PC, Xbox 360, PS3, PS2, PSP, Wii, DS
2 1 Call of Duty: World at War PC, Xbox 360, PS3, PS2, Wii, DS
3 2 Mario Kart Wii Wii
4 4 Need for Speed Undercover PC, Xbox 360, PS3, PS2, PSP, Wii, DS
5 5 Dr Kawashima's Brain Training DS
6 7 Wii Play Wii
7 13 Quantum of Solace PC, Xbox 360, PS3, PS2, Wii, DS
8 Re-entry Professor Layton and the Curious Village DS
9 10 Tomb Raider: Underworld PC, Xbox 360, PS3, PS2, Wii, DS
10 8 Wii Fit Wii
11 9 Guitar Hero: World Tour Xbox 360, PS3, PS2, Wii
12 14 Mario & Sonic at the Olympic Games Wii, DS
13 11 LEGO Indiana Jones PC, Xbox 360, PS3, PS2, PSP, Wii, DS
14 6 Fallout 3 PC, Xbox 360, PS3
15 16 LittleBigPlanet PS3
16 20 Prince of Persia Xbox 360, PS3
17 19 Far Cry 2 PC, Xbox 360, PS3
18 27 Carnival: Funfair Games Wii
19 15 LEGO Batman PC, Xbox 360, PS3, PS2, PSP, Wii, DS
20 12 Sonic Unleashed Xbox 360, PS3, PS2, Wii
21 17 Gears of War 2 Xbox 360
22 21 Kung Fu Panda PC, Xbox 360, PS3, PS2, Wii, DS
23 38 Guinness World Records: The Videogame Wii, DS
24 22 More Brain Training from Dr Kawashima DS
25 36 SingStar ABBA PS3, PS2
26 24 Pro Evolution Soccer 2009 PC, Xbox 360, PS3
27 25 Rayman Raving Rabbids TV Party DS, Wii
28 18 WWE SmackDown vs. Raw 2009 Xbox 360, PS3, Wii, PSP, DS, PS2
29 37 Star Wars: The Force Unleashed Xbox 360, PS3, Wii, DS, PSP, PS2
30 26 Resistance 2 PS3
31 31 Wii Music Wii
32 23 Animal Crossing: Let's Go to the City Wii
33 33 Shaun White Snowboarding Xbox 360, PS3, PSP, Wii, DS
34 28 Football Manager 2009 PC, PSP
35 Re-entry Madagascar: Escape 2 Africa PS3, Xbox 360, Wii, PS2, PC, DS
36 30 Mirror's Edge PC, Xbox 360, PS3
37 35 WALL-E PC, Xbox 360, PS3, PS2, PSP, Wii, DS
38 39 Lips Xbox 360
39 Re-entry Grand Theft Auto IV Xbox 360, PS3, PC
40 29 Nintendogs: Lab & Friends DS
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 (15) Latest comment 3 years ago

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

  • Uncle_Fishboy #1 3 years ago

    Wheres fat worm blows a sparky?

  • Brianstorm #2 3 years ago

    So LBP was the best selling Next Gen exclusive title...

  • mcbi4kh2 #3 3 years ago

    @Brainstorm
    Considering the PS3 and 360 have been out for over 2 years I think we can safely say we are in 'This Gen'.

  • Buenos_Estente #4 3 years ago

    And that title actually goes to Mario Kart Wii....

  • dr_faulk #5 3 years ago

    Ah! Good to see Layton on the charts! I thought it'd be another Okami.

  • Frandroid #6 3 years ago

    I'm finding it nigh on impossible to locate a copy of Professor Layton in the wild. Game (via their website) are only offering it as part of a bundle with other (cr@p) games, no doubt in an attewpt to shift dead stock. Amazon had a handful of copies yesterday but were looking for £50!
    Not sure why this game is in such short supply.

  • Rpt81 #7 3 years ago

    It probably helps that FIFA was half-price or heavily discounted in a number of stores over the past week. I've been highly tempted to grab the PSP version.

  • secombe #8 3 years ago

    Can't believe Professor Layton got to 8th, I STILL can't find it anywhere! I've literally never seen it in a shop since it was released.

  • Doctor_What #9 3 years ago

    Hooray! Some decent titles are shifting the right amount of units. It's lovely to see LBP and Layton doing so well.

  • BonzoBanana #10 3 years ago

    Wow I've just read the review of Fifa and it says the 360 version has more screen tearing than the ps3. Thats got to be a first. Did say the ps3 version looks like its covered in vasaline though. Not into football games myself. I think the last football game I ever played for any length of time was an old Atari 8bit game by Thorn EMI.

    The poor sales of the ps3 are really keeping the ps3 exclusives down the list. If I was a ps3 developer I'd be really hopeing for a price cut for the console.

  • linksdad #11 3 years ago

    Fifa, massively bundled and selling at 20 quid hits number 1. I wonder how they managed that?

    Piracy must be to blame when Professor layton has missed loads of sales due to non availability. I've tried twice in several shops to get hold of this and it stands a good chance of being missed now I've gone off the boil.

  • Frandroid #12 3 years ago

    @ KingsXKings
    Heh, Somali pirates? Is this the first time real pirates have affected game sales? You got a reference for the story?

    Finally managed to track down a copy last night, the girl in Game told me it's a joy to sell as people's faces light up when they realise that it's in stock.

  • Marshall2008 #13 3 years ago

    All this goes to prove is the UK game buying public are all fuckwits. EVERY year they buy FIFA. EA could roll out the exactly same game, game engine, gameplay mechanics and graphics but update the rosta's and they would still sell the exactly same amount of games. OK, they would take a hit in the gaming press but would that make one fucking jot of a difference? would it hell as like.

    FIFA
    Wii
    DS

    This shit will sell regardless. Its almost such a sure fire seller as fags n booze.
    Edited by 1 at 30/12/08 @ 02:21

  • lambtron #14 3 years ago

    "All this goes to prove is the UK game buying public are all fuckwits. EVERY year they buy FIFA. EA could roll out the exactly same game, game engine, gameplay mechanics and graphics but update the rosta's and they would still sell the exactly same amount of games. OK, they would take a hit in the gaming press but would that make one fucking jot of a difference? would it hell as like. "

    You might have a point, except this time around FIFA is a really well made game (and ironically it's PES that has become tired and stagnant). FIFA actually deserves it's success this time around.

  • freewilly #15 3 years ago

    Yay my first post!! Ok, so my question is, if fifa is so good this year, EA is going to keep the engine and not force a new game purchase every year? Talk about reinventing the wheel.