UK Charts: GT4 holds off major releases

By Rob Fahey Published 22 March, 2005

Strong debuts for Brothers in Arms, Championship Manager 5 and Resident Evil 4.

Polyphony Digital's PS2 exclusive racer Gran Turismo 4 has held on to the top spot in the UK sales chart this week, despite strong challenges from a host of new releases - four of which make it into the top ten ranking.

The biggest challenge to GT4 came from EA's FIFA Street, which saw a 51 per cent rise in sales in its second week, compared with a 53 per cent drop off for GT4, and climbed one place to the number two position.

Behind it, however, came the new releases - with Ubisoft's Brothers In Arms, Eidos' Championship Manager 5 and Capcom's Resident Evil 4 debuting at numbers three, four and five respectively.

There are three new number ones in the single-format charts as well, with Brothers In Arms topping the Xbox chart, Championship Manager 5 on top of the PC chart, and Resident Evil 4 on top of the Cube ranking - with the biggest Cube launch week since Mario Kart: Double Dash, and the fifth biggest launch week ever on the platform.

Despite a relatively healthy launch at the top of the PC ranking, there's little doubt that Championship Manager 5 has been hurt by the repeated delays to the game and the competition with former ChampMan developer Sports Interactive's Football Manager 2005; previous ChampMan releases have routinely caused a reshuffle of the PC fastest sellers chart, but not so in this instance.

Further down the ranking, EA's two new sports titles straddle the boundary of the top ten, with Rugby 2005 at number ten, and Fight Night Round 2 at number 11, while two other new releases come in at the bottom of the top 40 - Ubisoft's Silent Hunter III at number 29, and Nintendo's Mario Party 6 at number 34.

Only one DS game remains in the top ten this week, with Super Mario 64 DS dropping four places to number eight, while of the other top ten DS titles from last week, Wario Ware Touched falls to number 14 and Rayman DS is down to number 25 in the ranking.

Somewhat disappointing from a Britsoft perspective is the lack of any sign of SCi and Bits Corp's movie licensed title Constantine in the ranking; the game was launched at the start of the month and might have expected to chart off the back of the largely well-received movie launch last week, but seems instead to have sunk without trace.

Next week is yet another busy week for releases, with Capcom's Devil May Cry 3 and EA's TimeSplitters Future Perfect leading a field which also includes THQ's The Punisher, EA's Battlefield 2, Capcom's Monster Hunter and Ubisoft's The Matrix Online.

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About Rob Fahey

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Comments (34) Latest comment 7 years ago

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  • IronGiant #1 7 years ago

    Decent debut for Res4 which is good news.. interesting to see how well the DS has continued to sell if it's software is dropping already.

  • Teeth #2 7 years ago

    RE4 at 5? not too bad, but really it should be at no.1, it is the finest game to grace a console in a long time.

  • Genji #3 7 years ago

    It is... but there aren't anywhere near the number of Cube owners as there are PS2 owners. Getting to #5 is a pretty good result for a Cube game.

  • Blerk #4 7 years ago

    Capcom's Resident Evil 4 debuting at number..... five

    Blimey... I really did think that'd be a number one. Number two at least. Anyone care to spill any sales figures?

    And what's this? Movie license failing to make the charts? Maybe there's hope for us all yet... :-)

  • #5 7 years ago

    Is it just me, or is everyone feeling the wave of very good games being released on all platforms apart from XBOX, which seems to be a bit /meh release-wise?

    /is aware that xbox is probably devoting game making for the xbox2 now...

    Great time to be a gamer :) Spoilt for choice

  • Blerk #6 7 years ago

    March is apparently the new Christmas.

  • Whizzo #7 7 years ago

    March is apparently the new Christmas.

    It is for me as it's my birthday tomorrow! ;-)

    If RE4 had been released at a different time of the year it may well have got to number 1 but just after GT4's release there's no chance.

  • ssuellid #8 7 years ago

    Just you Djini - and maybe some others. Quite a lot of good stuff out on all platforms recently - just had Oddworld Stranger, Fable on XBox, Jade empire is soon etc.

    First time in ages that there has been something excellent out on 3 different consoles at around the same time. RE4, GT4 and Oddworld.

  • jellyhead #9 7 years ago

    Hellblazer fans will probably avoid Constantine for as long as possible both the film and the game, though i've heard that they aren't as bad as people feared. It will probably sell well in a few months when it hits budget bins, i'll wait until then to get it i think.

  • lost_soul #10 7 years ago

    Battlefield 2 is out next week?

  • IronGiant #11 7 years ago

    Yeah Res4, Oddworld and Devil May Cry3 all keeping me happy right now.. soon to be joined by God of War, Doom3 and my PSP! ;)

  • Whizzo #12 7 years ago

    Battlefield 2 is out next week?

    A bit of mistake that one, it was originally supposed to be out next week but has kept on slipping. Sometime around October I think now.
    Edited by 1 at 22/03/05 @ 12:20

  • Zomoniac #13 7 years ago

    just had Oddworld Stranger, Fable on XBox, Jade empire is soon etc.

    Just had Fable?? Where exactly are you from? Fable was released before Halo 2, at the back end of October (or very early November, I forget), I would not call that a new release by any stretch.

  • ssuellid #14 7 years ago

    Thought it was more recent than that. Tho if you want to be picky Apple don't make CPUs - IBM do. :)

  • tiddles #15 7 years ago

    Anyone played Rayman DS yet? Looks like it might be related to the excellent Rayman 2...?

    SM64 and WarioWare seem to be suffering from stock shortages in quite a few places...

  • #16 7 years ago

    ssuellid: I compeltely forgot about Oddworld... You're right... My bad.

    It's a good (GREAT) month for games and gamers on all platforms. We even have a new platform (DS) too...

    /shakes fist at Sony though, no PSP or release date or price :(

  • IronGiant #17 7 years ago

    "Anyone played Rayman DS yet? Looks like it might be related to the excellent Rayman 2...?"

    Well i loved Rayman2 so looked around for any reviews of RaymanDS, GamesRadarUK have reviewed it thusly..

    "It's hard to imagine anyone splashing their moolah on Ninty's new handheld and being happy to entertain themselves with pedestrian ports of antique titles such as Rayman DS 35%"


  • pollster #18 7 years ago

    RE4 best game in a long time. Here's hoping to a sequel soon (I've had it on import for the last 2 months). I think DS software would be higher in the chart if shops still have stock left. I also found out this week from my local GAME store that its unlikely that the PSP will be out before Christmas. Apparetly the stock originally earmarked for europe is going to japan. I don't mind importing the hardware but can't be arsed having to import all the games. Europe gets shafted again!

  • Burton2000 #19 7 years ago

    RESI 4 POSSIBLE SPOILERS

    wel im now onto disk 2 and god its so much scarier than the first disk im in the hospital on the island and the first time the regenertaor comes in the room. its quite scary u read some notes that talk about it and about its special powers and u no uve just seen one lying on an operating table. u then hear the bang of the door and u no you cant harm it so u have to run.and i did to get the device that kills it.its just the whole thing with u in a hospital and the lights flickering off and on and sparks flying. but the graphics on it are immenese not as good as pre rendered obviously but still awsome.

    im quite amazed that it got into the top 10 i mean as such a low percentage of console owners have cubes i wana know the exact figures it sold thatd b gud to c

  • Burton2000 #20 7 years ago

    i went to GAME in aberystwyth(wales) and they had stock on all the ds games they had wario ware mario 64 polarium etc. however that cus abers a student town and there probably all skint!

  • mcmonkeyplc #21 7 years ago

    Thats sega's The matrix online

    Although im ubi would have it if you gave it to them :)

  • Whizzo #22 7 years ago

    Don't post spoilers in a thread about games sales for God's sake.
    Edited by 1 at 22/03/05 @ 14:32

  • tengu #23 7 years ago

    Number 5... Could have been worse, but it still deserves to be number 1 a lot more than certain other titles. What are the bets it'll be straight in at 1 when the PS2 version comes out?

  • Decoded #24 7 years ago

    No. 5 isn't too bad considering that can only be one weekend's sales and it's a Cube-only release. Also there has been word of shortages.

  • Kami #25 7 years ago

    OK, I demand to know who HASN'T been buying RE4?

    #5... c'mon! It's the best game in a long while! Stop being so damn stingy and make it #1!

  • OnlyMe #26 7 years ago

    Well, I know a lot of people who imported Resi4 when it was released in the US, and so did I. What do you expect, when they keep ignoring the europeans by not releasing it sooner?

    I would have bought two PAL games already, hadn't I imported GT4 and Resi4. If they want me to stop importing, they'll have to stop delaying.

  • Spanky #27 7 years ago

    I haven't bought RE4 because none of my local shoppes had it in stock, also never bought a DS for exactly the same reason, hey no loss, i'll just pick it up cheaper later. Look at how fast RE0 dropped in price to utter peanuts :T

  • Tiiti #28 7 years ago

    RE1 remake or RE0 was #1 :)

  • Kami #29 7 years ago

    ... I imported, but got a PAL copy to spare me going through all the disc-switching nonsense. (Besides, I had it pre-ordered weeks before I imported... I never took it off pre-order...)

    I hope RE4's sales pick up. It's a fantastic game.

  • steven #30 7 years ago

    I also do hope sales pick up.

    I want a PAL copy as well, the Freeloader is giving me so much pain right now, but i got to play the game months before it came here so that's a plus :D

  • IronGiant #31 7 years ago

    1. Gran Turismo 4—SCEE
    2. FIFA Street—Electronic Arts
    3. Brothers in Arms: Road to Hill 30—Ubisoft
    4. Championship Manager 5—Eidos
    5. Resident Evil 4—Capcom
    6. Metal Gear Solid 3: Snake Eater—Konami
    7. The Sims 2: University—Electronic Arts
    8. Super Mario 64 DS—Nintendo
    9. Mercenaries—LucasArts
    10. Rugby 2005—Electronic Arts
    11. Fight Night Round 2—Electronic Arts
    12. The Spongebob Squarepants Movie—THQ
    13. Sonic Mega Collection Plus—Sega UK
    14. Warioware Touched!—Nintendo
    15. Robots—VU Games
    16. Star Wars: Republic Commando—LucasArts
    17. The Incredibles—THQ
    18. The Urbz: Sims in the City—Electronic Arts
    19. Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas—Take 2
    20. Asphalt: Urban GT—Ubisoft

  • Killerbee #32 7 years ago

    Well I haven't been able to find a copy of Resi 4 for love nor money in any of my local shops, so I've had to resort to buying it off Amazon... for which I'm now paying the price of having to wait the best part of a week for the feckers to deliver it.

    Anyway, excellent news that a Cube exclusive is finally shifting some units and making a dent on the charts. It's been a long time...

  • OnlyMe #33 7 years ago

    Yet, they're almost completely different games, imagine that.

  • Genji #34 7 years ago

    "MGS3-Snake Eater's far far better than Resident Evil 4 imo. Pure class."

    Wow, I didn't realise you could take hostages and use stealth in RE4! Time for me to interrogate some ZOMBIES.