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[bunkum]

UK Software Charts

* Two years ago Rockstar's 'Grand Theft Auto: Vice City' (PS2) overtook 'Metal Gear Solid 2' (PS2) as the fastest selling game in the UK, more than doubling the sales of Konami's title and breaking a quarter of a million sales in one week. It was thought that no game could smash the records so comprehensively again, but this week 'Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas' (PS2) has rewritten the record books, more than doubling Vice City's launch week sales and breaking half a million sales in one week (575,156 units / £20.6m across all Chart Track panel retailers with estimated total market sales of 677,000 / £24.2m) - and these are the sales over just 2 days of trading (Friday/Saturday). Incredibly, only 10 PS2 titles have sold more in their whole lifetimes, such is the demand for this title. In 2002 Vice City held on to become the Xmas No1 despite strong competition - there is strong competition again this year so only time will tell if San Andreas can repeat this feat. EA's 'FIFA 2005' drops to No2 in the All Formats Entertainment Chart with sales down by only 4%, while at No3 Konami's PS2 'Pro Evolution Soccer 4' sales almost halve. EA's titles in the Top 10 all perform well with 'Burnout 3' up one place from No6 to No5 and 'Tiger Woods PGA Tour 2005' re-entering the Top 10, up from No21 to No6 (due to PS2 version re-launch), while despite dropping from No5 to No9 sales of 'The Sims 2' (PC) were up 8%.

Edit: Link added http://www.charttrack.co.uk/html/frameset.htm

 

[DarienA]

...Wow.

 

[SolidSnakex]

So anyone who was thinking SA wasn't going to top Vice, want to take those back now.

 

[Soul4ger]

No.

 

[olimario]

The selling power of this franchise is amazing. I don't find Rockstar to be very good developers, but their ability to sell this title and to cater to what people WANT is AMAZING!
They must be commended.

 

[Diablos]

Wow, homeys have that much appeal to brits eh?

 

[sonycowboy]

UK Software Charts

this week 'Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas' (PS2) has rewritten the record books, more than doubling Vice City's launch week sales. 677,000 and these are the sales over just 2 days of trading (Friday/Saturday). Incredibly, only 10 PS2 titles have sold more in their whole lifetimes, such is the demand for this title. http://www.charttrack.co.uk/html/frameset.htm

WOW! :O :O :O

2 days of sales. UK is only ~1/3 of Europe, so upwards of 2 million copies could have been sold in 2 days in Europe. Although, GTA is I believe most popular in the UK vs the rest of Europe.

Bodes well for GTA:SA's overall sales

 

[Midas]

I guess thats a way to edit your reply.

Lets see if Halo 2 will break the record!

 

[sonycowboy]

I look forward to biz.gamedaily's Thursday "Chart Toppers" article with great interest.

 

[SolidSnakex]

I look forward to biz.gamedaily's Thursday "Chart Toppers" article with great interest.

I was expecting Reuters to have something up at the end of last week to give some indication of how the sales are going. I'm expecting it to top VC in the sameway VC topped GTA3 (outselling it within a matter of a few months).

 

[B E N K E]

It's not very likely Halo 2 will top that number. I think it will top Vice City, but this is truly massive.

 

[Razoric]

GO GTA:SA!

BYE BYE HALO 2.

:lol

 

[ourumov]

You cannot imagine how excited is the people in European forums about GTA:SA. The people was waiting for the game with more excitement than US people. No doubt about it.

GOTY

 

[johnjohnson]

How much did Fable sell in its first week of sales in UK? 35k? Holy S**t, 677k in just 2 days is amazing.

In our local Mediamarkt it was sold out the evening of its release. And the employee told me they got a whole lot of copies.

 

[Ranger X]

GO GTA:SA!

BYE BYE HALO 2.

:lol

Halo2 may sell more at launch but common, in the total sales, it can't compete. Almost no games can compete in pure numbers of copies sold.

 

[Andy787]

GTA:SA is easily one of, if not the best console game of this generation, so it deserves all of that success and more.

 

[DarienA]

Can SA hit one million in the first full week(7 days) of continuous sales in the UK?

 

[sonycowboy]

Halo2 may sell more at launch but common, in the total sales, it can't compete. Almost no games can compete in pure numbers of copies sold.

Yeah, I wouldn't laugh. No number either of these games puts out is going to surprise me. They seem to get bigger and bigger each day and absolutely no prior numbers are going to be effective at guesstimating their launches.

Just enjoy the games, wait for the pile to clear, and be amazed at their performances.

 

[sonycowboy]

Can SA hit one million in the first full week(7 days) of continuous sales in the UK?

We'll find out next Tuesday, but it looks likely. I don't know how days 1-2 match up vs 7-9 for a games sales. Clearly, there was tremendous up front business, which might make it somewhat front loaded, but with the numbers we're hearing, it's possible the first shipment sold out. Most stores around me have a ton, but more than a few sold out of their first and second shipments.

 

[bunkum]

Can SA hit one million in the first full week(7 days) of continuous sales in the UK?

Most likely as everyone who sold out should have been restocked today.

 

[ourumov]

What's sad about GTA:SA is that most stores are selling it for 65€ while the official price is 54€. Why ? Because they know people is gonna pay the price they ask for it. Sad but true.

 

[Midas]

Hehe, hype is a good thing. I'm a regular at a swedish community where a topic about GTA:SA reached over 3000 replies, and that's a week before the release of the game.

 

[Brosa]

What's sad about GTA:SA is that most stores are selling it for 65€ while the official price is 54€. Why ? Because they know people is gonna pay the price they ask for it. Sad but true.

Ouch! I got it for 99 SEK (~11€) + 2 old crappy games on the EB Games San Andreas campaign here in Sweden. Pretty good value for money there

 

[Razoric]

Halo2 may sell more at launch but common, in the total sales, it can't compete. Almost no games can compete in pure numbers of copies sold.

Wait, I wasn't being sarcastic... I think GTA:SA will outsell Halo 2 by far.

 

[Ranger X]

Wait, I wasn't being sarcastic... I think GTA:SA will outsell Halo 2 by far.

IAWYP

this game may end up the best seller of all time...

 

[segasonic]

not surprising. Since the German version of this game is censored, everyone here bought the UK version instead...

 

[sonycowboy]

not surprising. Since the German version of this game is censored, everyone here bought the UK version instead...

Oh, did somebody just pull a "Wal-Martish" card? LOL.

 

[Midas]

So all the germans play a game but doesn't understand a thing?

 

[Drey1082]

After playing GTA: SA. I'd say these good sales are well deserved. A great game.

 

[SolidSnakex]

IAWYP

this game may end up the best seller of all time...

I don't think it could pull that off, it'll be the best selling game this gen by atleast 2 million units. Rockstars gotta have a big smile on their face when they look at the charts and see 3 GTA's sitting in the top 3 spots.

 

[segasonic]

So all the germans play a game but doesn't understand a thing?

English is already taught in elementary school here.

 

[Lord Error]

I'm quite surprised there's such an interest in Europe for a game based on the american hip hop / urban culture. Especially if the interest is bigger than in the states, like Ourumov said. I didn't have an impression hip hop is nearly as big in Europe as in the US.

 

[Ranger X]

I don't think it could pull that off, it'll be the best selling game this gen by atleast 2 million units. Rockstars gotta have a big smile on their face when they look at the charts and see 3 GTA's sitting in the top 3 spots.

What's the best selling game ever anyway? Still Super Mario Bros 3 or something?
I'm wishing to compare performances... did Mario Bros 3 started selling that fast? Or maybe GTASA is still far behind?
Vice City was pretty near breaking old records of sales. I think SA can.

 

[segasonic]

Oh, did somebody just pull a "Wal-Martish" card? LOL.

Don't be so defensive, I'm just trying to explain the great advantage over GTA VC sales.

 

[Midas]

English is already taught in elementary school here.

Oh, that's nice. A bit OT now, but... You still dub movies, right?

 

[SolidSnakex]

I didn't have an impression hip hop is nearly as big in Europe as in the US.

It might not be as popular, but GTA is. People don't really care about what its based on, just as long as it still allows them to do what the other games did and more. SA does that. You don't have to like hip hop at all to like what GTA has to offer you.

 

[8bit]

Don't be so defensive, I'm just trying to explain the great advantage over GTA VC sales.

Surely the same would have been true for VC's sales?

 

[segasonic]

Oh, that's nice. A bit OT now, but... You still dub movies, right?

yup, but if it's done well, I don't mind

 

[Project Midway]

I'm quite surprised there's such an interest in Europe for a game based on the american hip hop / urban culture. Especially if the interest is bigger than in the states, like Ourumov said. I didn't have an impression hip hop is nearly as big in Europe as in the US.

I dont think the popularity of GTA SA in EU has anything to do with hiphop culture... people just like fun and violent games. And if the title starts with "GTA", it helps too.

 

[segasonic]

Surely the same would have been true for VC's sales?

the first German issue of VC was uncensored

they replaced it with a censored issue later on

 

[sonycowboy]

What's the best selling game ever anyway? Still Super Mario Bros 3 or something?
I'm wishing to compare performances... did Mario Bros 3 started selling that fast? Or maybe GTASA is still far behind?
Vice City was pretty near breaking old records of sales. I think SA can.

Well, I think it's difficult to add sales of systems that were bundled with the system for extended periods of time at no extra charge (vs Halo LE 200k or GT3 Bundles in the US)
Now, I have no idea how long or with what price SMB3 was bundles with the SNES, but I know when I bought one in the ~mid-ninties or so, it was in there.

Basically, I'd find it difficult to believe that any seperately packaged software sold better than GTA:VC (Double Pack, notwithstanding). The market is just so much bigger now, but many of those NES and SNES games had such incredible longevity.

 

[Naked Snake]

The amount of bad English grammar in this thread is unsettling.

 

[Asskicker064]

I thought Super Mario 3 was the best selling stand-alone game of all time. 17 million or something before it was bundled.

 

[sonycowboy]

I thought Super Mario 3 was the best selling stand-alone game of all time. 17 million or something before it was bundled.

AFAIK,

There was no consumer tracking in place. TRSTS didn't start until 1995 and Chart Track was after that. I have absolutely no idea when the Japanese tracking companies started. So, the only numbers we ever got were from the publishers themselves.

 

[vysez]

I didn't have an impression hip hop is nearly as big in Europe as in the US.

France is the 2nd worldwide market for Rap/RnB, so there's clearly room for GTA:SA ambiance in Europe.
BTW GTA:SA is already n°1 seller in France, don't have the exact numbers though.

 

[GDJustin]

I look forward to biz.gamedaily's Thursday "Chart Toppers" article with great interest.

Take Two hasn't gotten back to me yet, and most likely isn't going to.

 

[DarienA]

Take Two hasn't gotten back to me yet, and most likely isn't going to.

How come?

 

[Ploid 3.0]

Since GTA:SA sold/is selling so well it makes you wonder how much effort and money R* will be able to put into GTA4 :O~

 

[jarrod]

Well, I think it's difficult to add sales of systems that were bundled with the system for extended periods of time at no extra charge (vs Halo LE 200k or GT3 Bundles in the US)
Now, I have no idea how long or with what price SMB3 was bundles with the SNES, but I know when I bought one in the ~mid-ninties or so, it was in there.

Basically, I'd find it difficult to believe that any seperately packaged software sold better than GTA:VC (Double Pack, notwithstanding). The market is just so much bigger now, but many of those NES and SNES games had such incredible longevity.

Nintendo never bundled any software for free with platforms for extended periods of time at no extra charge. They always had additional options and pricing structures (NES Classic, Action or Power bundles, SNES Core set Vs Mario set, etc). Any free software bundles were done in limited supply only (Zelda 3, Yoshi's Island, DK64, Metroid Prime, etc). Also, how did you buy SMB3 bundled with a SNES? Are you confusing SMB3 for another game (Mario World+All Stars perhaps)?

While a majority of Super Mario Bros 40M sales likely came from the NES bundles and Mario World's 23M sales came from SNES bundles, I doubt much of SMB3's 18M sales came from NES bundles.

Though if we're adding all versions of Vice City for it's 13M total (PS2, PC & Xbox) shouldn't we do the same for Mario games? Meaning Mario 3 gets an extra 12M or so from the SNES/GBA rereleases?

 

[GDJustin]

How come?

I dunno, they're just notoriously hard to get ahold of. I couldn't even speak to someone about the game's success via phone, to get quotes. The best I could manage was emailing some Qs to be FWDd on to the appropriate people, and my deadline is approaching with no word back.

*shrug*