Week ending the 19/apr/2009

RETAIL BIZ: Out This Week

UK releases for this week:

When posted by BKK2.

Reserved for France, Germany, Italy, Spain and UK.

UK

Chart-Track's news (on the All-Format chart) :

Germany (consoles)

Germany (PC)

France (consoles top 5)

France (consoles top 10)

France (PC top 5)

Italy

Charts Calender:

Monday: UK, Ireland, France Top 5 (1 week delay), Germany (All, 1 week delay), Spain (1 week delay)
Tuesday: Denmark, Italy (1 week delay), Finland (Fortnightly on even numbered weeks)
Wednesday: Germany (Separate console & PC)
Thursday: Australia, New Zealand , Sweden
Friday: Netherlands, Switzerland, Norway
Saturday: France Top 10 (2 week delay)

*Note: These are often subject to change, especially Germany (All) & Spain

Archives:

2009:

Apr: 14 / 15
Mar: 10 / 11 / 12 / 13
Feb: 05 / 06 / 07 / 08 / 09
Jan: 01 / 02 / 03 / 04

2008:

Dec: 49 / 50 / 51 / 52
Nov: 45 / 46 / 47 / 48
Oct: 40 / 41 / 42 / 43 / 44
Sep: 36 / 37 / 38 / 39
Aug: 31 / 32 / 33 / 34 / 35
Jul: 27 / 28 / 29 / 30
Jun: 22 / 23 / 24 / 25 / 26
May: 18 / 19 / 20 / 21
Apr: 14 / 15 / 16 / 17
Mar: 09 / 10 / 11 / 12 / 13
Feb: 05 / 06 / 07 / 08
Jan: 01 / 02 / 03 / 04

2007:

Dec: 48 / 49 / 50 / 51 / 52
Nov: 44 / 45 / 46 / 47
Oct: 40 / 41 / 42 / 43
Sep: 39

Reserved for Australia, Denmark, Finland, Ireland, Netherlands, New Zealand, Norway and Sweden.

Netherlands *

* - note that the Netherlands chart is closed earlier than other European charts and, because of that, it's often not a good indicator of success for debuting games.

Ireland

Denmark

Australia

New Zealand

Sweden

Norway (consoles)

Norway (handhelds)

Norway (PC)

Finland (week 15-16)

good to see chinatown wars hanging on

I wonder if it will even chart :| lets hope so :D

China Town? Of course it will chart. This is UK ... GTAland.

It's fairly disapoiting so far, but still in a decent positition, we have to see how good it's legs are, GTA normally has great legs (see IV 360 version), admittedly that's helped by  DLC, but it's still hitting a lot of EU charts.

Anyway, IMO GTA:CW first week / month sales aren't so great, but it's way too early to call it a bomb. I expect it to be profitable for T2, but maybe not enough for a sequel.

As for Madworld, after seeing UK charts I didn't think 66k was that bad for US. It still underperformed though. To be honest I don't think it would do much better on another platform ... too niche.

A lot of people debating if "core games" can succeed on Wii now. I think they can, but not generic violent games. Where are all the platformers on Wii? PC Kid, wonderboy, alex kidd? How about all the old school shmups? I know X360 is king of the hardcore shmups, but surely there's still a market for old school side scrollers?

I don't get Wii devs, especially trying to outdo realistic PS360 games, so many genres you can choose on Wii,  no need to try to emulate PS360 FPS success. Funny thing is, only Sega have games on Wi that I'm interested in, never thought I'd say that 15 years ago ... Sega really are fantastic this gen, shame the meta scores don't translate to profit.

I think he was talking about "Phantasy Star Portable" (hunter_alien = PSP supporter), but, still, nice post.

So, for "Phantasy Star Portable", to be honest, I'm not even certain it will chart into the PSP top 10. I see 2 major reasons for the success of this title in Japan : it was released on one of the hottest platform there and it's a portable multiplayer RPG ("Monster Hunter Portable" like). This style of game seems adapted to the Japanese way of life, but I don't think it equates the british's habits. And since the PSP seems stuck in a niche in the UK... (I mean, to be able to enjoy the game, not only do you need to have a PSP, you need to have friends with a PSP! That's statistically quite a problem.)

Ah yeah, my bad. Sorry hunter alien, but PSO has close to no chance of making top 40 this week. It's the most noticable release in a very slow week which is why they mentioned it. You have to check the individual  PSP format chart for niche games like this.

Incidentally, I never could afford PS1 when I was a kid (master system fanboy), but am considering playing it now that I got "sonic's genesis collection" ...

Nintendo stays fit at No1

20/Apr/2009

Nintendo are looking healthy at the top of the All Formats Chart as ‘Wii Fit’ stays at No1 for a third consecutive week, totalling 12 weeks at No1 in all (8 of which have come in 2009).

After Easter, sales of ‘Wii Fit’ are down by 30%, while ‘The Godfather II’ remains at No2, sales falling by 32%. EA will have to wait in the wings for another week in order to become the Don of the games charts, but old favourite ‘FIFA 09’ (-17%) ensures a strong presence at the top end of the Chart for the big American publisher, up 2 places to No3. The rest of the All Formats Top 10 shuffle places, ‘Mario & Sonic at the Olympic Games’ (-35%) and ‘Resident Evil 5’ (-30%) are both down one place to No’s 4 and 5 respectively. Nintendo’s 3 other Top 10 titles all perform relatively well, each with only small drops in sales – ‘Professor Layton’ (-9%) is up one place to No6, ‘Mario Kart Wii’ (-1%) up 2 places to No7 and ‘Wii Play’ (-13%) is a non-mover at No8. Activision Blizzard still have a foothold in the Top 10 despite ‘Call of Duty: World at War’ (-23%) slipping from No6 to No9.

With no new releases of any note out this week it gives consistent chart performer ‘Carnival: Funfair Games’ (-12%) the opportunity to sneak back into the Top 10, up from No16 to No10.

Latest UK Software Charts

TOP 40 ENTERTAINMENT SOFTWARE - INDIVIDUAL FORMATS (UNITS), WEEK ENDING 18 April 2009 LW   TW     Title Format Label Publisher 1 1     WII FIT WII NINTENDO NINTENDO 5 2     PROFESSOR LAYTON AND THE CURIOUS VILLAGE DS NINTENDO NINTENDO 2 3     THE GODFATHER II XB360 EA GAMES ELECTRONIC ARTS 7 4     MARIO KART WII WII NINTENDO NINTENDO 6 5     WII PLAY WII NINTENDO NINTENDO 3 6     MARIO & SONIC AT THE OLYMPIC GAMES WII SEGA SEGA 4 7     THE GODFATHER II PS3 EA GAMES ELECTRONIC ARTS 8 8     RESIDENT EVIL 5 XB360 CAPCOM CAPCOM 9 9     DR KAWASHIMA'S BRAIN TRAINING DS NINTENDO NINTENDO 11 10     GRAND THEFT AUTO: CHINATOWN WARS DS ROCKSTAR TAKE 2 13 11     RAYMAN RAVING RABBIDS TV PARTY WII UBISOFT UBISOFT 10 12     CLUB PENGUIN: ELITE PENGUIN FORCE DS DISNEY INTERACTIVE STUDIOS DISNEY INTERACTIVE STUDIOS 14 13     MY FITNESS COACH WII GAMES FOR EVERYONE UBISOFT 21 14     FIFA 09 XB360 EA SPORTS ELECTRONIC ARTS 12 15     RESIDENT EVIL 5 PS3 CAPCOM CAPCOM 34 16     LEGO INDIANA JONES: ORIGINAL ADVENTURES XB360 LUCASARTS LUCASARTS 16 17     KILLZONE 2 PS3 SONY COMPUTER ENT. SONY COMPUTER ENT. 31 18     KUNG FU PANDA XB360 ACTIVISION ACTIVISION BLIZZARD 29 19     CARNIVAL: FUNFAIR GAMES WII 2KPLAY TAKE 2 23 20     PUZZLER COLLECTION DS GAMES FOR EVERYONE UBISOFT 18 21     MARIO KART DS DS NINTENDO NINTENDO 33 22     MYSTERY CASE FILES: MILLIONHEIR DS NINTENDO NINTENDO 17 23     NEW SUPER MARIO BROS. DS NINTENDO NINTENDO 22 24     CALL OF DUTY: WORLD AT WAR XB360 ACTIVISION ACTIVISION BLIZZARD 27 25     CARNIVAL: FUNFAIR GAMES DS 2KPLAY TAKE 2 - 26     IMAGINE: DOCTOR DS GAMES FOR EVERYONE UBISOFT 15 27     STREET FIGHTER IV PS3 CAPCOM CAPCOM 30 28     MARIO & SONIC AT THE OLYMPIC GAMES DS SEGA SEGA 38 29     GEARS OF WAR 2 XB360 MICROSOFT MICROSOFT 26 30     STREET FIGHTER IV XB360 CAPCOM CAPCOM 20 31     CALL OF DUTY 4: MODERN WARFARE XB360 ACTIVISION ACTIVISION BLIZZARD 37 32     GRAND THEFT AUTO IV XB360 ROCKSTAR TAKE 2 19 33     WHEELMAN XB360 MIDWAY UBISOFT - 34     FOOTBALL MANAGER 2009 PC SEGA SEGA 40 35     GUITAR HERO: WORLD TOUR WII REDOCTANE ACTIVISION BLIZZARD - 36     FIFA 09 PS3 EA SPORTS ELECTRONIC ARTS - 37     MONOPOLY WII EA GAMES ELECTRONIC ARTS 25 38     WHEELMAN PS3 MIDWAY UBISOFT - 39     ANIMAL CROSSING: LET'S GO TO THE CITY WII NINTENDO NINTENDO - 40     LITTLEBIGPLANET PS3 SONY COMPUTER ENT. SONY COMPUTER ENT.

Well as most of you expected... it didnt chart :| Well lets hope that MHU will have a better performance with all the adverts Capcom promised us :|

It was #6 in PSP chart.