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[Heisenberg007]

EA Sports FC 24 has remained at the top of the UK boxed charts for a third week despite a 36% sales decrease.

GfK's report showed that the Xbox Series X|S version of EA Sports FC dropped the most, while PlayStation 5 saw the majority share of sales.

Assassin's Creed Mirage also held its place at No.2 following its debut last week, even though it saw a 77% decline in sales. Like EA Sports FC, sales of the PlayStation 5 version were highest.

Star Wars Jedi: Survivor jumped from No.7 to No.3 courtesy of a 116% rise in sales due to price reductions on PlayStation 5.

Two new titles debuted in the Top Ten this week, with Lords of the Fallen taking the No.4 spot and The Grinch: Christmas Adventure ranking at No.8.

The new Forza Motorsport failed to reach the Top 20, debuting at No.23. The only other new release in the charts this week was Fortnite Transformers Pack at No.17.

Meanwhile, retailer discounts saw Mario + Rabbids Sparks of Hope and the Red Dead Redemption remaster re-enter the Top Ten at No.5 and No.6, respectively.

The Legend of Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom dropped out of the Top Ten for the first time since its release in May, falling five spots to No.15 even with no change in sales from last week.

Detective Pikachu Returns fell to No.22 following its debut at No.3 last week, with sales down 70%.

A few titles re-entered the retail charts due to ongoing price reductions, including Miraculous: Rise of Sphinx, which saw a 510% sales increase, Lego Marvel Super Heroes, and Dead Space.

Here is the GfK Boxed Top Ten for this week ending October 14, 2023:

Last Week	This Week	Title
1	1	EA Sports FC 24
2	2	Assassin's Creed Mirage
7	3	Star Wars Jedi: Survivor
New entry	4	Lords of the Fallen
Re-entry	5	Mario + Rabbids Sparks of Hope
Re-entry	6	Red Dead Redemption (Remaster)
4	7	Mario Kart 8 Deluxe
New entry	8	The Grinch: Christmas Adventures
5	9	Hogwarts Legacy
9	10	Minecraft (Nintendo Switch)

Lords of the Fallen debuts at No.4 | UK Boxed Charts

EA Sports FC 24 has remained at the top of the UK boxed charts for a third week despite a 36% sales decrease. GfK's rep…

www.gamesindustry.biz

 

[Three]

You all laughed but it seems Kacho was right on everything.

Expecting a safe low 80s meta.

Game smells like a flop.

 

[Tiago Rodrigues]

The new Forza Motorsport failed to reach the Top 20, debuting at No.23

hum...ouch?

 

[T-0800]

 

[Thief1987]

For comparison FM7 was second on its debut week, just behind FIFA.

 

[Tams]

4

7

Mario Kart 8 Deluxe

Imagine having your brand new racing game absolutely destroyed by Mario Kart 8 Deluxe in late 2023.

 

[Sephimoth]

I have no interest in Forza myself, but surely most would play it on Game Pass if they did?

Maybe no one's playing on Game Pass either

 

[Gudji]

Where the fuck is starfield?

 

[Ass of Can Whooping]

Where the fuck is starfield?

Still loading

 

[Ozzie666]

i don't get why people expect Forza or Starfield to chart well or keep placing on them. Who is buying these games, that doesn't have game pass.
I'm waiting for the XXX millions of players have loaded the game up metric. Not.

 

[Mibu no ookami]

Tried to tell people Forza wasn't going to move the needle because people already had access to Forza Horizon. People might play this on GamePass, but they weren't going to buy it.

The Xbox isn't pushing enough units where it can sustain a large demand for a game like Forza when there are so many other racing titles out there.

Again, the model is broken. You can't do GamePass or Day 1 on PC (plus GamePass on PC), you can't do both.

 

[demigod]

It flopped hard. Nobody gives a flying fuck about forza motorsport. GT7 was number 1 during its debut week which was like 2 days. Time for ms to bundle the game for the holidays to raise the numbers count.

 

[Certinty]

I remember when Microsoft really tried telling us that Game Pass actually increased the sales of its first party games.

Starfield and Forza absolutely nowhere to be seen.

 

[ADiTAR]

Imagine having your brand new racing game absolutely destroyed by Mario Kart 8 Deluxe in late 2023.

Mario Kart? Detective Pikachu is at 22, one place higher.

I dunno, I wish Microsoft get its shit together. 3 tough players and competition will only breed better games.

 

[Elios83]

An other victim of Gamepass.
Either they get some money back through microtransactions with a long term gaas plan or the series risks to be shelved in favour of Forza Horizon.

 

[Raonak]

Gamepass aside, I truly believe removing the number from the name has made people care less about it.

It doesn't really feel like a new release.

 

[Sorc3r3r]

I remember when Microsoft really tried telling us that Game Pass actually increased the sales of its first party games.

Starfield and Forza absolutely nowhere to be seen.

I'm certainly not a business man but this model doesn't seem to be wise.
Seems broken and breaking the very philosophy behind a game development.
Seems, in the end, devouring itself.
Question is, can they revert this model without doing even more damage to the brand trust?

 

[Negotiator101]

Tried to tell people Forza wasn't going to move the needle because people already had access to Forza Horizon. People might play this on GamePass, but they weren't going to buy it.

The Xbox isn't pushing enough units where it can sustain a large demand for a game like Forza when there are so many other racing titles out there.

Again, the model is broken. You can't do GamePass or Day 1 on PC (plus GamePass on PC), you can't do both.

What are you talking about?

 

[Three]

Time for ms to bundle the game for the holidays to raise the numbers count.

That's what I would guess but not this year I don't think. My crazy prediction is that they will try and mimic the X1X launch with it. bundle a code with their leaked discless console (which I refuse to believe will have no improved specs). It will look better on it and at that point they will unlock better PC settings too. The media will talk about the great amount of work they did for that upgrade on that console.

 

[Negotiator101]

I'm certainly not a business man but this model doesn't seem to be wise.
Seems broken and breaking the very philosophy behind a game development.
Seems, in the end, devouring itself.
Question is, can they revert this model without doing even more damage to the brand trust?

I honestly think you haven't got a clue what you're talking about. Let me break it down, GamePass is a subscription model that has about 30 million subs, that's where the money is generated for these games are you not understanding that? Whatever it sells outside of that is a bonus, you get it now?

 

[Withnail]

Another previously successful IP that has been badly mismanaged by MS.

Does anybody really trust them with the future of all those ABK IPs?

 

[buenoblue]

Microsoft have created a situation where people don't have to buy there consoles or games. It's a dangerous game. Can gamepass sustain the Xbox division alone?

 

[Mibu no ookami]

What are you talking about?

This spring and summer there were a lot of discussions around the decline of Xbox Series sales.

People were convinced that Redfall, Starfield, and Forza would shift that narrative, but there was no chance of that.

I feel like we live in this weird twilight zone where we'll have a fierce debate on here and you fast forward and the people who were on the wrong side of the debate will say, "Of course, it's like this, that's obvious"


So what is happening in real-time, is it trolling or hopium? What?

 

[Three]

I'm certainly not a business man but this model doesn't seem to be wise.
Seems broken and breaking the very philosophy behind a game development.
Seems, in the end, devouring itself.
Question is, can they revert this model without doing even more damage to the brand trust?

If the philosophy you're referring to is launching a feature complete game then I would agree but if by philosophy you mean making money then it is wise.

The model is wise in that they can churn out incomplete/broken games since people are footing the bill regardless and then keep people engaged with 'updates' month after month. It's a platform that can churn out GaaS games too because they can monetise those 30M with mtx/dlc who just have to launch your game. it's the f2p model without the 'free'. As long as they have critical mass there it's not a problem. They don't need sales.

 

[yazenov]

Forza Motorbomba .

Out of the top 20 for the game launch is atrocious, even for a Gamepass game.

 

[Heisenberg007]

i don't get why people expect Forza or Starfield to chart well or keep placing on them. Who is buying these games, that doesn't have game pass.
I'm waiting for the XXX millions of players have loaded the game up metric. Not.

To be fair, the overwhelming majority of Xbox/PC gamers do not have Game Pass.

Out of 120 million (PC) + 65 million (Xbox), only ~25 million have Game Pass. So the rest of the gamers would be potential buyers. Whether they buy a game or not, however, is a different story.

 

[xHunter]

Dont worry about game sales, its all about merchandise now

 

[Mibu no ookami]

If the philosophy you're referring to is launching a feature complete game then I would agree but if by philosophy you mean making money then it is wise.

The model is wise in that they can churn out incomplete/broken games since people are footing the bill regardless and then keep people engaged with 'updates' month after month. It's a platform that can churn out GaaS games too because they can monetise those 30M with mtx/dlc who just have to launch your game. it's the f2p model without the 'free'. As long as they have critical mass there it's not a problem.

We've already seen subscribership plateau. What happens when it declines?

This Xbox generation is assuredly going to sell significantly less than the previous one. So what Microsoft has to ask itself is what ramifications will that have on the next generation in terms of subscription growth?

If your console install base continues to shrink, so will your subscriber rate, meanwhile the cost involved with the content almost certainly will continue to rise...

Disney is way ahead of Microsoft on this and even they're struggling. They have way more back catalog, bigger draws, and they're coming off of tremendous success with the MCU. The problem is costs are rampant and revenues are declining from various business operations. I told people Microsoft was going to have a rough summer leading to a rough holiday season, and what's more troubling is they're going to have a very rough 2024.

What are the top 3 games for Xbox Series in 2024? Is anything near the level of Starfield?

 

[Horseganador]

It is a debacle in every sense, on Steam the game has a 42 and has not even reached 5k players (1500 now) and the game is barely a week old, in the UK it is off the sales charts (a Forza after 6 years...) and Xbox has not even come out to say the number of players.

 

[MasterCornholio]

Dont worry about game sales, its all about merchandise now

Forza the flamethrower?

 

[Mowcno]

It got to 3rd on the Xbox Live gameplay charts behind CoD and Fortnite in it's launch week so it seems a good number have played it on gamepass. Though I can't imagine that good a number because we've had none of the usual PR from MS about player numbers. I wouldn't be surprised if it drops out of the top 10 played xbox games as soon as next week.

In terms of actual console sales and steam sales it seems it has done truly dreadfully though.

 

[Heisenberg007]

It got to 3rd on the Xbox Live gameplay charts behind CoD and Fortnite in it's launch week so it seems a good number have played it on gamepass. Though I can't imagine that good a number because we've had none of the usual PR from MS about player numbers. I wouldn't be surprised if it drops out of the top 10 played xbox games as soon as next week.

In terms of actual console sales and steam sales it seems it has done truly dreadfully though.

The problem for Microsoft is that that does not necessarily bring in the money though.

 

[systemr123]

Imagine having your brand new racing game absolutely destroyed by Mario Kart 8 Deluxe in late 2023.

But Mario Kart 8 Deluxe is an excellent game, even in late 2023. It just shows how very good games keep selling forever together with GTA V and some other games like Legend of Zelda etc.

Maybe devs could learn something from this. Stop releasing broken shit and fix it maybe later, and start releasing high quality games. Delay them if you have to (I know smaller studios might not have the budget/time for delays) but make sure it’s good before releasing them.

Especially the big studios could do this. Halo could have been great, Redfall could have been ok, Motorsport could have been great, Starfield could have been way better. List goes on and on of games that release broken nowadays and never have a chance to be fixed.

Even though we do patches nowadays, the words of a wise man still are true most often: Release a broken game and it’s bad forever, delay a game and it can be eventually good.

We’ve seen many times now that there are a lot of games released and somewhat fixed, but they never get really good. With exception maybe of No Mans Sky.

 

[Heisenberg007]

It is a debacle in every sense, on Steam the game has a 42 and has not even reached 5k players (1500 now) and the game is barely a week old, in the UK it is off the sales charts (a Forza after 6 years...) and Xbox has not even come out to say the number of players.

For reference, The Grinch: Christmas Adventure ranked at #8. Forza Motorsport ranked on #23. I can't imagine Microsoft being happy with this.

The Grinch: Christmas Adventure ranked at #8!!!

 

[Heisenberg007]

We've already seen subscribership plateau. What happens when it declines?

Not just that - the cost of running a subscription is a huge variable in all this. Even if a sub plateaus or grows, it can still be in the red.

Considering Xbox's and Microsoft's executives called investment in Game Pass as "spending a truckload of money" they are likely losing more than they gain. And, as you said, that's before it starts declining.

 

[FIREKNIGHT2029]

Forza flopped hard like I knew it would.

Where is Starfield lol?

 

[Bojanglez]

Microsoft have created a situation where people don't have to buy there consoles or games. It's a dangerous game. Can gamepass sustain the Xbox division alone?

I'm just super worried about the moat they've built.

 

[jroc74]

...I forgot Forza Motorsport just launched.....

MS is gonna have to really reevaluate launching exclusives day one on Game Pass. Some games, sure. All?

 

[Clintizzle]

Jim Ryan and Phil Spencer: "Alright teams please send me a report on how our games are doing in terms of sales in the last month."

Analysts: *Provide data for games worldwide*

JR AND PS: "WHAT THE FUCK IS THIS?!? WHY THE FUCK WOULD WE CARE ABOUT HOW A GAME SOLD IN US/EU/ASIA/OCEANIA?!

THIS IS NOT AMATEUR HOUR, REDO THE REPORT AND ONLY INCLUDE STATS FROM THE UK AND I ONLY WANT PHYSICAL SALES. ITS THE ONLY GOOD METRIC FOR GAMES PERFORMACE"

 

[MasterCornholio]

Jim Ryan and Phil Spencer: "Alright teams please send me a report on how our games are doing in terms of sales in the last month."

Analysts: *Provide data for games worldwide*

JR AND PS: "WHAT THE FUCK IS THIS?!? WHY THE FUCK WOULD WE CARE ABOUT HOW A GAME SOLD IN US/EU/ASIA/OCEANIA?!

THIS IS NOT AMATEUR HOUR, REDO THE REPORT AND ONLY INCLUDE STATS FROM THE UK AND I ONLY WANT PHYSICAL SALES. ITS THE ONLY GOOD METRIC FOR GAMES PERFORMACE"

Thankfully PlayStation doesn't only do well in the UK.

 

[Gaiff]

Series S supposedly sold more than the Series X and from what we've seen in the past, the digital percentage of Xbox games was much higher than Playstation. Usually, it was over 80%. Add to the fact that the other major customer base is on PC which is also all-digital.

That said, the Steam review scores are abysmal and the concurrent peak player count is laughable. There was also that claim that Microsoft was deleting negative reviews so it seems it's not all roses and rainbows on Xbox either.

 

[onQ123]

Jim Ryan and Phil Spencer: "Alright teams please send me a report on how our games are doing in terms of sales in the last month."

Analysts: *Provide data for games worldwide*

JR AND PS: "WHAT THE FUCK IS THIS?!? WHY THE FUCK WOULD WE CARE ABOUT HOW A GAME SOLD IN US/EU/ASIA/OCEANIA?!

THIS IS NOT AMATEUR HOUR, REDO THE REPORT AND ONLY INCLUDE STATS FROM THE UK AND I ONLY WANT PHYSICAL SALES. ITS THE ONLY GOOD METRIC FOR GAMES PERFORMACE"

You really wasted your time typing this mess?

What are you even doing?

 

[blue velvet]

Gamepass or not, that doesn't sound good. UK is one of the biggest market of Forza Motorsport outside of US. They should've delayed the game for another 6 months instead of releasing the game with so much issues.

 

[Three]

What are the top 3 games for Xbox Series in 2024? Is anything near the level of Starfield?

I think in 2024 they will have Hellblade, plus possibly Avowed and CoD 24 which would be bigger than Starfield by a country mile. As long as they can keep their games in the news cycle even if they're not as big as Starfield or even that great they will maintain subscribers.

 

[Flutta]

Where the fuck is starfield?

Right where it belongs —>

 

[damidu]

happens when you procrastinate for six years to release an unfinished game.
waiting for download numbers from ms to spin the narrative, though i guess even those are not that hot

 

[Mibu no ookami]

...I forgot Forza Motorsport just launched.....

MS is gonna have to really reevaluate launching exclusives day one on Game Pass. Some games, sure. All?

There would be an immediate backlash if they stop day one games on gamepass. I'm sure they'd lose 5 million subscribers within 3 months. It's easily one of the biggest selling points.

 

[Heisenberg007]

There would be an immediate backlash if they stop day one games on gamepass. I'm sure they'd lose 5 million subscribers within 3 months. It's easily one of the biggest selling points.

Yeah they can't backtrack now. Their only option is to make subscription unattractive - by upping the price too much or by only giving games to the highest tier (they have already started deploying the second strategy by introducing Game Pass Core.)

 

[damidu]

...I forgot Forza Motorsport just launched.....

MS is gonna have to really reevaluate launching exclusives day one on Game Pass. Some games, sure. All?

lol good luck with that, hope it happens though.
just to see the defense force

 

[Mibu no ookami]

I think in 2024 they will have Hellblade, plus possibly Avowed and CoD 24 which would be bigger than Starfield by a country mile. As long as they can keep their games in the news cycle even if they're not as big as Starfield or even that great they will maintain subscribers.

Avowed and Hellblade won't move the needle at all and CoD 24 won't be exclusive and I believe it even still has a marketing deal with Sony.

Again, it's time to point emphasis on the fact that it's going to be a VERY difficult 6 months for Microsoft I'm not sure how they manage Sony widening the gap this holiday season. The mindshare lost here is going to make 2022 look like nothing.