Halo 3 Scores Number One Ahead Of FIFA in UK Charts

Microsoft’s Halo 3 has become the second fastest-selling game of all time the in UK, behind only Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas. Although Halo 3 was released on a Wednesday, as opposed to the more normal Friday, 1 in 3 Xbox 360 owners bought the game, compared to just one in 6 Xbox owners who bought Halo 2, and 1 in 10 PlayStation 2 owners who bought Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas. Although full hardware sales figures are not available for the UK as per usual, Chart-Track reports that Xbox 360 console sales have doubled for the week, and beaten the Wii for the first time since April. It has been revealed that current Xbox 360 console sales stand at 1.4 million in the UK, which suggests nearly 470,000 units of Halo 3 sold in its first week. Halo 3 accounted for 68 percent of all Xbox 360 software sales this week, compared to 56 percent of all PlayStation 2 software sales during San Andreas’ debut. This resulted in the Xbox 360’s highest week of software sales ever in the UK. Although Halo 3 sits at number one in both the individual format and combined sales charts in the UK, this success has not been repeated across all of Europe. Also debuting in the charts this week is Electronic Arts’ latest soccer simulation, FIFA 08, which has recorded the biggest ever opening week for the long-running franchise. The PlayStation 2 version was the best selling with 44 percent of all sales, followed by the Xbox 360 version (which becomes the third fastest selling 360 game of all time in the UK, after Halo 3 and Gears of War) at 26 percent. The PlayStation 3 version accounted for 20 percent of all sales, followed by the PSP and Wii. The PC and Nintendo DS versions did not chart in the top forty. The already busy week in retail is joined by a number of other high-profile titles, with Skate on Xbox 360 entering the charts at number twelve, just ahead of the Xbox 360 version of Juiced 2: Hot Import Nights at number fourteen (with the PlayStation 2 version at number nineteen). The PC version of Enemy Territory: Quake Wars debuted at number sixteen for Activision, while arcade revamp Sega Rally for the Xbox 360 entered at number thirty-one, and for the PlayStation 3 at number thirty-three. The final new entry of the week was standalone PC mission disk Company of Heroes: Opposing Fronts at number forty from THQ.

Leisure software charts compiled by Chart Track, (C)2007. ELSPA Ltd