The UK's first digital download chart contains some unexpected games

[midian182]

Why it matters: The UK’s top ten video game charts have long been based solely on physical sales, but with digital downloads becoming an increasingly popular method of buying titles, an update was required. Now, the country’s first weekly digital chart has arrived, and it shows some surprising entries.

As reported by gameindustry.biz, the top ten is based on sales ending May 26, the week when Team Sonic Racing topped the physical game charts. When you take into account digital sales, the latest entry in the PC-exclusive Total War series—Total War: Three Kingdoms—sold more copies than Sega’s kart racer. Counting digital-only sales, Team Sonic Racing was at number 13.

The rest of the digital download chart contains some unexpected names. Grand Theft Auto V, a game that was first released on last-gen consoles almost six years ago, is in second spot. GTA V is currently ninth on Steam’s list of global best sellers and is usually in the top five during the platform’s sales events, which makes you question how many people still don’t own it.

Ubisoft’s Monopoly Plus, which has a ‘Mostly Negative’ rating on Steam, is third, followed by the ever-popular Minecraft. Further down the list is Cities: Skylines, which jumped from 94 to sixth after going on sale. Other titles include Uno and Middle-Earth: Shadow of War.

Unlike the physical charts, which gets its data from retailers, the digital version comes from information supplied by publishers and developers, but not all of them appear willing to share. Nintendo, Bethesda, and Konami are three of the biggest companies absent from the list.

Top ten UK digital games for the week ending 26th May 2019:

1. Total War: Three Kingdoms (New entry)

2. Grand Theft Auto V (Last week: 1)

3. Monopoly Plus (4)

4. Minecraft (2)

5. FIFA 19 (49)

6. Cities: Skylines (94)

7. Red Dead Redemption 2 (7)

8. Uno (5)

9. F1 2018 (11)

10. Middle-earth: Shadow of War (8)

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https://www.techspot.com/news/80358-uk-first-digital-download-chart-contains-unexpected-games.html

 

[Capaill]

The GSD chart features games published by Activision Blizzard, Bandai Namco, Capcom, Codemasters, Electronic Arts, Focus Home Interactive, Koch Media, Microsoft, Milestone, Paradox Interactive, Sega, Sony, Square Enix, Take-Two, Ubisoft and Warner Bros. Notable absentees from the data include Bethesda, Konami and Nintendo.

And, um, Epic?

 

[enemys]

The GSD chart features games published by Activision Blizzard, Bandai Namco, Capcom, Codemasters, Electronic Arts, Focus Home Interactive, Koch Media, Microsoft, Milestone, Paradox Interactive, Sega, Sony, Square Enix, Take-Two, Ubisoft and Warner Bros. Notable absentees from the data include Bethesda, Konami and Nintendo.

And, um, Epic?

Epic is missing, but I wouldn't call them a notable absentee. EG is only a self-publisher and they haven't published a full-fledged, paid, non-mobile game since "Robo Recall "in 2017, which - as a VR only title - isn't exactly a massively selling product. Oh, there's also "Fortnite: Save The World", but this is a kind of a paid early access game (set to launch as F2P, too) and not exactly a very popular title. Their biggest products are Fortnite and UE4, neither of which qualifies to any paid game sales list.