This week’s UK retail chart suggests God of War Ragnarok is a colossal commercial success.
GamesIndustry.biz dug deep into sales figures, reporting that it had the second biggest launch of the year behind FIFA 23 – meaning launch sales eclipsed Elden Ring, Call of Duty: Modern Warfare II, and Pokémon Legends: Arceus.
Chart purveyors GfK also claimed Ragnarok sold more copies in one day than any previous game in the series sold within a week. Sales were up 51% over 2018’s God of War, and it has also already become the third-best selling title in the series.
Sales were split 82% on PS5 and 18% on PS4. 12% of sales also came exclusively from the PS5 Ragnarok console bundle – with PS5 console sales also rising last week. Thanks again GI.biz.
Ragnarok wasn’t the only new release. SEGA’s Sonic Frontiers – which arrived to mostly positive reviews – debuted at #4 in the all formats chart, while taking #2 in both the Switch and Xbox Series charts, along with #4 in the PS4 and PS5 charts.
Football Manager 2023, also from SEGA, took #11. Not many PC games manage to enter the UK retail chart these days, with the Football Manager series being a rare exception. Indeed, the PC top ten also currently includes Football Manager 2022 and Football Manager 2021.
The belated PS4 release of Stray crept in at #23, while Cobra Kai 2: Dojos Rising – published by GameMill – entered at #28. The TV tie-in also made #8 in the PS5 top ten. We hope it’s better than the terrible original.
Call of Duty: Modern Warfare II dropped to #2 while FIFA 23 fell to #3. Continuing this trend, Mario Kart 8 Deluxe moved down to #5, with Nintendo Switch Sports falling to #6.
Horizon Forbidden West climbed from #12 to #7, no doubt fuelled by Ragnarok madness. Splatoon 3, Animal Crossing: New Horizons, and Minecraft then round off the top ten.
Mario + Rabbids: Sparks of Hope and Gotham Knights left the top ten, meanwhile, now at #13 and #14. Curiously enough, the original Mario + Rabbids is at #15.