Horizon: Forbidden West is second-biggest PS5 physical game launch so far

And second-biggest launch of 2022 behind Pokémon: Legends Arceus.

News by Tom Phillips Editor-in-Chief

Updated on 21 Feb 2022

Horizon: Forbidden West has notched up the second-biggest launch for a boxed PlayStation 5 game in the UK, behind console launch title Spider-Man: Miles Morales.

PlayStation's open world sequel released on both PS4 and PS5 (as did Miles Morales). 68 percent of its boxed sales were for PS5, meaning a third were for PS4.

Horizon: Forbidden West is also the second-largest boxed game launch of the year so far in the UK, with roughly half the physical sales of Nintendo Switch exclusive Pokémon Legends: Arceus.

As reported by GamesIndustry.biz, physical sales of Forbidden West were down 35 percent on 2017's Horizon Zero Dawn, despite the series' reputation having grown over the last five years and this sequel seeing a sizable marketing campaign.

But the percentage of sales likely to have come from digital downloads has also grown over the last five years - meaning we'll need to wait until those figures are revealed for the full picture.

As for Horizon's PS4/PS5 split, it's likely this was influenced at least to some degree by Sony's sneaky pricing - which saw PS4 copies £10 cheaper with a free upgrade to PS5. This will have tempted some to go for the cheaper PS4 option - though it's to be expected many customers will not have realised this option was available.

In Eurogamer's Horizon Forbidden West review, Malindy wrote that the game was "a gorgeous sequel that continued to borrow more than it adds".

Did you buy Horizon last week? Are you waiting for a PS5 to buy your copy? Or are you waiting for Elden Ring, out this Friday?

The full UK top 10 lies below: