Black Friday sends UK sales skyrocketing

With just one title in the whole of the UK top 40 in the same position as last week, it’s fair to say that Black Friday has given the chart a significant shake-up. That game was GTA V at #9, if you’re curious.

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Almost every title in the top 40 saw a sales boost – per GfK figures, 1.9m games were sold for the week ending November 26th. That’s a 9% increase over last year’s Black Friday weekend.

MCV reports Watch_Dogs 2 performed better during its second week on sale than during launch week with sales up 5%.

PlayStation 4 console sales were also their highest since the system’s launch, prompting such pack-ins as Driveclub, Ratchet & Clank, The Last of Us and Uncharted 4 to re-enter the top 40.

Guitar Hero Live and DOOM meanwhile re-entered at #30 and #32 respectively. We expected DOOM to chart higher – most retailers were selling the gloriously grizzly shooter for a mere £15.

Even Nintendo had a record breaking week. Pokémon Sun and Pokémon Moon arrived at #3 and #4; if sales were combined, they would have taken the top spot. They had Nintendo’s biggest software launch since 2008’s Wii Fit, and also sold double the amount of 2014’s Omega Ruby and Alpha Sapphire at launch.

It was FIFA 17 and Call of Duty: Infinite Warfare that managed to keep Pokemon from the top spot. Sales of FIFA 17 were up 311% while Infinite Warfare enjoyed a 155% boost in sales.

Battlefield 1 dropped to #5, Watch_Dogs 2 fell from #2 to #6, Forza Horizon 3 drifted to #7, Uncharted 4 re-entered at #8, GTA V held onto #9 while Gears of War 4 made #10.

Other notable risers include Titanfall 2 (up four places) and LEGO Star Wars: The Force Awakens (up seven places). Recent release Assassin’s Creed: The Ezio Collection wasn’t anywhere near as fortunate, falling all the way from #10 to #33.

There were no other new entries aside Pokémon, meaning Darksiders: Warmastered Edition – which we had tipped for a top 20 appearance – was a complete no-show.

Word has it publishers are already starting to reconsider launching games during Black Friday next year.

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