Modern Warfare 3 fends off Assassins
Activision Blizzard’s ‘Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 3’ declines -87% over the huge week 1 units but holds on to No1 for a second week.
It’s a new release bonanza with 9 new titles in the Top 40 and 5 of those within the Top 10. Ubisoft mirror last year’s Assassin’s Creed (Brotherhood) by debuting at No2 in the week after Call of Duty launch, thanks to ‘Assassin’s Creed: Revelations’. Sales of the latest Assassin’s Creed are indeed a Revelation for Ubisoft as the title beats last year’s title in both units (+4%) and revenue (+8%) for week 1, to become the most successful of the franchise and also of any previous Ubisoft release. It is also the first Assassin to stealthily arrive as a Tuesday release and around 61% of sales during week 1 were completed in the first 24 hours. Only 14 franchises on 360/PS3 have arrived on a Tuesday in the past 5 years, (including the 2 released this week). Bethesda’s ‘Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim’ drops one place to No3 (-62%), followed at No4 by the next big new entry, THQ’s ‘Saints Row: The Third’. Week 1 sales for the 360/PS3 versions are an impressive 43% higher than previous best, ‘Saints Row 2’ from back in week 42, 2008. EA’s ‘FIFA 12’ drops one place to No5 (+7%) and we then have 2 more new releases: debuting at No6 is Microsoft’s 360 ‘Halo: Combat Evolved Anniversary’ which was also released on Tuesday. Debuting at No7 we have Nintendo’s Wii ‘The Legend of Zelda: Skyward Sword’ followed by EA’s ‘Battlefield 3’ down 5 places to No8 (-40%) and we then have the last of the Top 10 new releases at No9, Nintendo’s ‘Super Mario 3D Land’ for 3DS. Just outside the Top 10 is EA’s ‘Need for Speed: The Run’ debuting at No11, somewhat down on last year’s ‘NFS: Hot Pursuit’ which debuted this week last year at No3 with close to double the week 1 sell-through. Also new this week is Warner’s ‘Lego Harry Potter: Years 5-7’ at No13, Sega’s Wii ‘Mario & Sonic London 2012 Olympic Games’ at No20 and Microsoft’s ‘Kinect Disneyland Adventures’ at No39.
