Super Smash Bros. Ultimate is off to a great start, topping the UK chart while becoming the fastest selling Switch release so far.
It had even stronger first-week sales than Pokemon Let’s Go: Pikachu and Eevee combined, which debuted at a more than respectable #4 and #6 in November.
Square-Enix’s Just Cause 4 entered at #6. Sales were down an alarming 60% over Just Cause 3, Eurogamer notes. It’s hard to imagine digital sales – not included in the UK charts – bridging the gap.
RDR2 held onto #2, FIFA 19 fell to #3, Battlefield V remained at #4, while Mario Kart 8 Deluxe climbed to #5 thanks to hardware bundling.
CoD: Black Ops 4, Spyro Reignited Trilogy, Pokemon: Let’s Go Pikachu and Fortnite: Code in a Box Edition occupied the remaining top ten positions.
The last two new entries are technically re-entries – the PS4 version of PUBG arrived at #22, while the Switch iteration of SEGA Mega Drive Classics made #33.
The amount of no shows this week is surprising. Persona 5: Dancing in Starlight, Override: Mech City Brawl, and the belated physical releases of Hellblade: Senua’s Sacrifice and Tetris Effect all eluded not just the UK top 40, but their respective individual format charts too.
A certain online retailer was unable to fulfil our physical pre-order for Tetris Effect, so we expected to make the lower end of the top 40, at the very least.
Yo-Kai Watch 3 failing to make an appearance in the 3DS top 20 is also most unexpected, given the positive reviews and popularity of the franchise. Perhaps launching it the same week as Smash wasn’t the best idea.