Capcom's Resident Evil 5 has managed to hold firm at the top of the UK all format charts during a successful second week since release.
Yet Sega’s MadWorld, according to data provided by GfK ChartTrack, has barely made a dent in the top 40, limping in at number 34.
MadWorld’s disappointing turnout could be explained by the title being released on the sixth day into Chart-Track’s Sun-Sat week, yet by comparison three of the last four UK number ones had been released on a Friday.
Worse still for Sega, five games sit above MadWorld in the on the Wii’s full-price chart this week. Mario and Sonic at the Olympic Games sits in fifth on the Wii chart, behind Mario Kart Wii, Mario Power Tennis, Sonic and the Black Knight and, of course, Wii Fit.
Wii Fit, however, was the only exclusive Wii title that made the all-format top ten. A 9 percent sales dip sees the title hold second, while that small loss sees it gain ground on Resident Evil 5, which itself sees sales slide by 52 percent.
Prior to getting knocked off the top spot by Street Fighter IV, Wii Fit was just two successful weeks away from becoming Nintendo’s all-time longest serving UK number one. Since the release of Street Fighter 4 back in mid-February, the title has seen Killzone 2, Halo Wars and Empire Total War jump above it.
Yet as the weeks progressed, Wii Fit’s evergreen appeal saw it slowly inch its way back up the charts, quietly passing the big-hitters as they fell from a PR-surged rush to the top. In early March the game was fourth; a week later, third. As Resident Evil 5 launched, Nintendo’s balance-board-bundled title rose above its peers to second.
During that time Resident Evil 5 was outselling Wii Fit by 5-1. Today that gap has narrowed to 2.7-1.
Not only does Wii Fit’s reluctance to fall down the charts demonstrate the game’s own long-term appeal, it also highlights again how lucrative an extended audience can be.
On the week of Mother’s Day, three DS titles entered the UK top ten. Continued advertising campaigns saw Professor Layton climb up one place to third, while the original Brain Training sees a 117 percent sales spike, taking the title from 21st to eighth.
That other DS title, Rockstar’s GTA Chinatown Wars, manages to sits above the three-year-old Brain Training by entering the UK charts at sixth, but whether it has met Rockstar’s own expectations is another story entirely. Chart-Track reports that Chinatown Wars' debut week has only seen half the sales of the previous handheld GTA title; Vice City Stories for the PSP.
Both Chinatown Wars and MadWorld place perspective on the Nintendo's dichotomised audience, as both core-targeted titles have likely underperformed from their respective publisher’s internal estimates. Both can, of course, still yield a profit.
The highest new entry this week is THQ’s heavily-advertised WWE Legends of Wrestlemania, which sits at fourth with sales split evenly across PS3 and Xbox 360. In fifth is Tom Clancy’s HAWX, while Street Fighter IV sales climb 48 percent due to a retailer promotion, taking the title up from thirteenth to seventh.
FIFA 09 and World At War remain glued together. Both titles climbed two places each last week, after both falling one place each the week prior. Still with EA’s soccer sim edging just above Activision’s shooter, this week both games drop three places to ninth and tenth.
Killzone 2, Empire Total War and Halo Wars all fall out of the top ten.
UK All Format top ten for the week ended March 21 according to GfK Chart-Track:
1. Resident Evil 5
2. Wii Fit
3. Professor Layton and the Curious Village
4. WWE Legends of Wrestlemania
5. Tom Clancy HAWX
6. GTA: Chinatown Wars
7. Street Fighter 4
8. Brain Training
9. FIFA 09
10. Call of Duty World at War
Last week
UK 2009 chart history
