…The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim, ladies and gentlemen. The mammoth RPG has become the first UK Christmas number one not to be published by either EA or Activision since 2002’s GTA: Vice City.
Neither EA or Activision has made #2 – it’s Just Dance 3 that clocks in below Skyrim. Sales between the two were 15,000 copies apart claims Chart-Track.
Here’s the Christmas top 10 in full:
- The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim
- Just Dance 3
- Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 3
- FIFA 12
- Saints Row 3
- Battlefield 3
- Assassin’s Creed: Revelations
- Mario & Sonic at the London 2012 Olympic Games
- Need for Speed: The Run
- Professor Layton and the Spectre’s Call
And here’s last year’s Christmas chart, so we can run a comparison:
- Call of Duty: Black Ops
- FIFA 11
- Need for Speed: Hot Pursuit
- Just Dance 2
- Assassin’s Creed: Brotherhood
- Gran Turismo 5
- The Sims 3
- Kinect Sports
- Michael Jackson: The Experience
- Medal of Honor
EA and Ubisoft owned much of the chart last year while Sony and Microsoft managed one title each. Not much has changed this year apart from no first-party games from Sony and Microsoft to be seen.
There wasn’t a single Nintendo-published title in last year’s chart, although Just Dance 2 was a Wii-exclusive. This year Just Dance went multi-format which explains why Just Dance 3 has charted higher. Poor reviews of NFS: The Run have presumably harmed sales but the brand is still clearly desirable.
Nintendo has a better presence this year but it’s sad to see no 3DS games in the top 10. Professor Layton is better than nothing, I suppose.