UK charts: God of War III at No. 1

By Robert Purchese Published 22 March, 2010

Metro 2033, DAO Awakening, C&C4 feature.

Sony's huge PS3 exclusive God of War III has rampaged to the top of the UK All-Formats chart.

The third instalment in the series outsold the second instalment by 2.65 to 1. God of War III's launch was three times smaller than Final Fantasy XIII's last week, though.

Square Enix's JRPG dropped 80 per cent of sales this week and fell to third, behind EA's Battlefield: Bad Company 2.

Just Dance finished fourth, ahead of this week's other new entry Metro 2033 in fifth.

Wii Fit Plus, Heavy Rain, Wii Sports Resort, Sonic & SEGA All-Stars Racing and Modern Warfare 2 rounded out the top 10.

Dragon Age: Origins expansion Awakening just missed out in 11th, as did Command & Conquer 4: Tiberian Twilight in 12th. The only other new entry is in the top 40 is Capcom's MotoGP 09/10 in 21st.

Fragile Dreams: Farewell Ruins of the Moon sold only a few copies and finished 27th on the Wii chart. Scene-It? Twilight performed a little better and finished 25th on the same list. PC game King's Bounty: Armored Princess didn't place, but the majority of that game's sales will be done online.

It's My Circus didn't appear anywhere, nor did MUD TV.

Yakuza 3, which got off to a slow start last week at 24th, fell off the All-Formats top 40 and settled in 13th on the PlayStation 3 list.

This Week Last Week Title Platform(s)
1 New entry God of War III PS3
2 2 Battlefield: Bad Company 2 PC, PS3, Xbox 360
3 1 Final Fantasy XIII PS3, Xbox 360
4 3 Just Dance Wii
5 New entry Metro 2033 PC, Xbox 360
6 5 Wii Fit Plus Wii
7 4 Heavy Rain PS3
8 9 Wii Sports Resort Wii
9 7 SONIC & SEGA All-Stars Racing DS, PS3, Wii, Xbox 360
10 6 Modern Warfare 2 PC, PS3, Xbox 360
11 New entry Dragon Age: Origins - Awakening PC, PS3, Xbox 360
12 New entry Command & Conquer 4: Tiberian Twilight PC
13 11 FIFA 10 PC, PS2, PS3, PSP, Wii, Xbox 360
14 13 Ben 10: Alien Force - Vigilax Attacks DS, PSP, Wii, Xbox 360
15 10 New Super Mario Bros. Wii Wii
16 8 Aliens vs. Predator PC, PS3, Xbox 360
17 12 BioShock 2 PC, PS3, Xbox 360
18 19 Forza Motorsport 3 Xbox 360
19 16 James Cameron's Avatar: The Game DS, PS3, Wii, Xbox 360
20 17 LEGO Batman DS, PC, PS2, PS3, PSP, Wii, Xbox 360
21 New entry MotoGP 09/10 PS3, Xbox 360
22 15 Grand Theft Auto IV PC, PS3, Xbox 360
23 20 Mario Kart Wii Wii
24 25 Assassin's Creed II PC, PS3, Xbox 360
25 18 Professor Layton and Pandora's Box DS
26 21 Mario & Sonic at the Olympic Winter Games DS, Wii
27 28 New Super Mario Bros. DS
28 35 Sonic Classic Collection DS
29 30 Football Manager 2010 PC, PSP
30 Re-entry LittleBigPlanet PS3, PSP
31 Re-entry Need for Speed: Shift PC, PS3, PSP, Xbox 360
32 22 Mario & Luigi: Bowser's Inside Story DS
33 31 Resident Evil 5 PC, PS3, Xbox 360
34 Re-entry Left 4 Dead 2 PC, Xbox 360
35 16 Uncharted 2: Among Thieves PS3
36 Re-entry LEGO Indiana Jones: The Original Adventures DS, PC, PS2, PS3, PSP, Wii, Xbox 360
37 27 Take a Break's Puzzle Master DS
38 Re-entry Peppa Pig DS
39 33 Pro Evolution Soccer 2010 PC, PS3, Xbox 360
40 Re-entry Bayonetta PS3, Xbox 360

Leisure software charts compiled by Gfk Chart-Track, ©2008 ELSPA (UK) Ltd.

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.

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

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Comments (43) Latest comment 2 years ago

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

  • matrim83 #1 2 years ago

    Decent showing for Metro 2033. Always good to see a new IP from a no name small development team do well.

    Also Dragon age deserves better than 11 but its an expansion so maybe its doing better than I think.

  • GamesConnoisseur #2 2 years ago

    Glad Metro 2033 manages to get in at fifth, as would easily disappear due to it's being unknown, unproven and not advertised as other titles.

    Good for GOW3, it's seemly much brisker a game for me but a welcome blast after the hard slogging with FFXIII!

  • EvilBob_leeds #3 2 years ago

    Metro would have 1 more sale if the silly buggers hadn't have taken the game off of UK Steam. *grumbles*

    Thoroughly deserved GOW III!
    Edited by 1 at 22/03/10 @ 10:31

  • MORZTAN #4 2 years ago

    What! NSMBW left the chart?

  • rashes #5 2 years ago

    Glad to see Metro 2033 there... that game has something.

  • Widge #6 2 years ago

    Is Steam accounted for in this chart?

  • andywilkie35 #7 2 years ago

    Just out of interest, who on earth is still buying Just Dance?

  • Darren #8 2 years ago

    Both God of War III and Metro 2033 are superb games but it's nice to see the latter doing so well as it's one of the most polished (graphically/presentation wise) and atmospheric first person shooters I've played in a long time, even better in many ways than the slightly disappointing BioShock 2. If the A.I. was a bit better (I've seen enemies freeze as if their A.I. has been switched off!) and ammo wasn't so damn scarce it would be a classic IMO. As it is it's very, very good. PC version by the way.

  • patch #9 2 years ago

    I'm wondering why there were so many big PS3 releases in such a small window. Can they keep up the momentum for the rest of the year?

    /hopes so :)

  • bushwod #10 2 years ago

    @andywilkie35

    "Just out of interest, who on earth is still buying Just Dance?"

    Your mum!

  • uglygamer #11 2 years ago

    Is Steam accounted for in this chart?
    No

  • Machetazo #12 2 years ago

    "Square Enix's JRPG dropped 80 per cent of sales this week"

    The series commited, and the core curious have had their fill? On to the mainstream. Talk about a case of boom and bust, if this game's sales turned out to flatline or fall, next week, though. That 80% drop is almost certainly going to have been from a significant number.
    Edited by 1 at 22/03/10 @ 11:13

  • captain_Carl #13 2 years ago

    Heavy Rain still in the top 10 :D Yay.

    Good to see God of War at number 1. Still struggling my way through it.

    FFXIII didn't fall as much as i thought it would

  • Kremlik Verified Co-Founder, Crash To Desktop #14 2 years ago

    @Mach - partly agreed that 80% is more then likly most of the main core of players wanting the game buying the game on release and what EG don't bare in mind it's has almost been two weeks since the release of the game - those who wanted it have it, I can't remember the actal number of sales be XIII is hardly a flop.

    As for the Dragon Age Expantion numbers, I think that issue is threefold, it's released on top of a lot of big names being released, ME2 is pritty much still the 'it' Bioware game to play, and the PSN price issue hasn't helped much - it'll be on a slow burn

  • GamesProgrammer Verified Games Team Programmer, Eutechnyx Ltd. #15 2 years ago

    Most Blockbuster games have around an 80% drop off after the first week, its completely normal. I'm sure God of war will next week.

  • sneetch #16 2 years ago

    @Widge
    Is Steam accounted for in this chart?

    No, it's retail only so online distributors aren't included either.

  • Emth #17 2 years ago

    Good to see games of the highest calibur occupying the top 3 for once

  • Morgawr #18 2 years ago

    Dragon Age Awakening's chart position is good considering how highly placed it is on the Steam and Direct2Drive charts, which aren't counted. Same goes for Command and Conquer 4. It's also interesting to note that the PC version of Awakening sold more than the Xbox 360 version, even without digital distribution counted.

    Link: http://ww w.chart-track.co.uk/index.jsp?c...

  • vocalgirth #19 2 years ago

    I've been kinda disappointed by God of War III only by the fact that I've completed it within two days of getting it and that's not with kicking the backside out of playtime... awesome to play through. It's God of War if Michael Bay directed it, just wish it was longer :-D

  • patch #20 2 years ago

    @Machetazo, you do know FFXIII has sold 5 million copies worldwide? I know this is for UK sales, but if that 80% drop is replicated globally, that's still 1 million sales. I'm guessing Square aren't complaining.

  • TruWari3r #21 2 years ago

    Wow, Just Dance just keeps on going.

  • Widge #22 2 years ago

    From what I have read elsewhere, FF games often have a sharp 80% drop off after the first week.

  • GreyBeard #23 2 years ago

    What's interesting is if you compare the all-formats versus individual formats chart. There's clearly a lot of daylight between the #1 spot and everything else.

  • GamesConnoisseur #24 2 years ago

    Yes GoW felt really short, a lot of good action game naturally had to be tightly foccused so the quality would be maintained, not many last more than 8 hours. Still doesnt change the feeling I get of the game somehow being missing a filling or two that was in the previous two iterations.

    Doesnt change that I loved the game, and from the 'how to make' videos, they apparently put everything they got in the game in the timeframe they had available. If held back 1 more year, then perhaps would be more complete game? The ending was quite rushed and involved a last minute alterations. Compared that to the opening scenes which took up huge amount of time/resources.

    Everyone could probably easily noticed that after completing the game.

  • gillri #25 2 years ago

    good to see GOW3 doing well, Metro 2033 is a very atmospheric shooter but it has that PC-developed feel, lacks polish and style a la STALKER
    yes it looks great in directx11, but GOW3 is a visual spectacle

    good to see Bayonetta back ijn the top 40........just

  • muscleblade #26 2 years ago

    @Darren

    I agree. I think they nailed the atmosphere and it looks very good too. 360 version played.

    Regarding the lack of ammo i dont see the complaint as the knife is very effective against most enemies.
    I havent noticed any glitches and i think the monsters ai is pretty good. The humans i dont know as i sneak past them mostly. Getting achievements for it so i think its meant to be played that way too. I saw one achievement for killing every human on a level so i will try that out later. The amoebas annoy me quite a bit though. I play on hard mind.

  • cowell #27 2 years ago

    Personally I was surprised how much bigger Heavy Rain was in its first week than God of War 3 has turned out to be.

    EDIT: Actually I probably shouldn't be! The focus in Europe has clearly been on HR. GOW is obviously more important to the US market. In fact I heard a story about the original GOW on PS2 that Sony Europe weren't going to bother to release it at all until they saw the journos picking up on it and running import reviews
    Edited by 1 at 22/03/10 @ 12:32

  • HiredMan #28 2 years ago

    Good showing by GoW3.

    Go BFBC2! Such an awesome game. Best online shooter I've played for quite some time and the campaign is ace too!

  • drxym #29 2 years ago

    Hah, it's funny to see Lego Indiana Jones Original Adventures reappearing. I bought it for my kid on Sunday for €15. I guess it must be discounted all over the place. It's a fun game, but the upscaling and amount of tearing in the PS3 version is pathetic given the kind of game it is. Hope the upcoming Lego Harry Potter aren't as bad as this.

  • MontyBrewster #30 2 years ago

    @Morgawr

    Don't forget no download sales are included in this chart period, it's not just pc games.

    The 360 downloadable version is only about £2 more expensive than most online stores are charging, so i'd imagine sales on the marketplace are pretty good.

    Throw in sales of the ps3 version which is download only and it begins to make the chart something of a mockery.

  • Machetazo #31 2 years ago

    I was just looking for the most likely explanation for an 80% sales drop, not implying the game was any kind of sales disaster, before.
    It's unfortunate that we don't have the DD numbers for Awakening. I'd be surprised if retail was the whole story, for that. But, it's done well, there anyway.

  • makeamazing #32 2 years ago

    Never played a GOW game before, and didnt really know what it was all about before i brought it, but i am absolutely smitten by it... really loving it... certainly will be getting the HD versions of 1 and 2.

    EDIT, noticed in the next EG post that 1 and 2 are finally coming out in the uk..yay
    Edited by 1 at 22/03/10 @ 13:06

  • des #33 2 years ago

    FFXIII is falling like a rock...good,it will be bargain bin material very soon just like in Japan

  • cowell #34 2 years ago

    To put the 80% drop in sales on FF13 in context, Bioshock 2 and Mass Effect 2 both dropped 60% and 70% respectively in their second week.

  • ignatiusjreilly #35 2 years ago

    Throw in sales of the ps3 version which is download only and it begins to make the chart something of a mockery.

    This is happening more and more. At some point in the not too distant future we're gonna have to admit that this chart is no longer a relevant way to measure game sales.

  • M_of_the_sys #36 2 years ago

    Good to see LBP back in the chart. Just keeps coming back.

  • menage #37 2 years ago

    @Anthony Daniels

    Yeah,

    Stupid Sega releasing it at the wordt time possible ever. And cutting stuff as well. Would like to say serves them right but the game will be played by me this summer.

  • Eraysor #38 2 years ago

    I just feel sorry for all the poor people that bought C&C4.

  • lockload #39 2 years ago

    OK so if FFXIII fell 80% and was behind battlefiled and GOW3 got 33% the sales of FFXIII then GOW3 barely outsold battlefields week 2 sales?

  • Flabio #40 2 years ago

    Not surprised Fragile has charted so low, nowhere I looked this weekend had a copy. It seems GAME have pretty much stopped stocking anything new for the Wii that isn't a top ten seller.

  • cowell #41 2 years ago

    @ lockload

    Correct. Good maths! Not very much in it at all

  • TRUTH #42 2 years ago

    Metro 2033 is dam fine game - Got GoW III too; though I sort of fed up with the hack & slash genre. Will give it a go, but too absorbed with Metro 2033 at moment.

  • One_Vurfed_Gwrx #43 2 years ago

    Yeah, I haven't seen any copies of Fragile in the wild either. Even Muramasa and Tatsunoko at least showed in HMV despite their notable absence in Game/Gamestation but Fragile seems to be nowhere. Ah well, I got mine online anyway and am enjoying, but it's going to be another "Wii games don't sell" even though you can't sell what you don't stock...
    I wouldn't have thought a niche Wii game is much more likely for price-drops than a niche 360/PS3 game which they still stock in the Game group...