The last time a game published by a company other than EA or Activision led the UK charts in December was in 2002.
GFK’s Chart-Track annually releases its list of best-selling games in the United Kingdom the week before December 25th and dubs it the Christmas Chart. In 2003, Electronic Arts’ Medal of Honor: Rising Sun took over the honor from 2002’s Grand Theft Auto: Vice City (TakeTwo/Rockstar). Since then, every Christmas Chart topper in the UK was published by the two largest videogame companies including Modern Warfare: Black Ops and Modern Warfare 2 and FIFA ’09. That is, until Bethesda took the crown this year, with Skyrim maintaining its number 1 position ahead of Just Dance 3 and Modern Warfare 3.
The open-world epic RPG from Bethesda sold 15,000 more units than Just Dance 3, proving yet again that more people play dancing videogames than I previously thought possible. Chart-Track reports that MW3 was very close though, so at least videogames involving shooting people with guns can enjoy the third best sales in the UK during the holidays. Poor EA drops all the way to fourth place with this year’s FIFA not selling as well as its predecessors.
Here are the 10 best-selling games for the week ending on December 17th in the UK across all platforms (PC, PS3, Xbox 360, Wii):
- The Elder Scrolls 5: Skyrim
- Just Dance 3
- Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 3
- FIFA 12
- Saints Row: The Third
- Battlefield 3
- Assassin’s Creed: Revelations
- Mario & Sonic London 2012 Olympic Games
- Need for Speed: The Run
- Professor Layton and the Spectre’s Call
Source: Chart=Track
