Call Of Duty: Vanguard sales down 23% on last year – Games charts 6 November

Call Of Duty: Vanguard box — Box sales don’t mean as much as they used to (pic: Activision)

The new Call Of Duty has taken its guaranteed place at the top of the UK charts, with only a relatively small drop in demand from last year.

Before the release of Call Of Duty: Vanguard there was a lot of talk of the series having peaked in popularity and being dragged down by a lack of innovation, but there’s little sign of that in terms of its chart performance.

The 23% drop in physical sales is not significant and likely more than covered by the increase in digital sales, especially as last year’s Black Ops Cold War saw a much larger drop of 64%.

The fall is more an indication of how physical sales are increasingly less important to new games, especially online-focused titles such as Call Of Duty, with the most significant sales percentage being the fact that 70% of sales were for the PlayStation 4 and 5.

Ever since the Xbox 360 era, Sony has had a marketing relationship with Call Of Duty, which sees the PlayStation emphasised as the franchise’s primary format, and that promotion is clearly still working.

The PlayStation 5 accounted for 41% of sales, with the PlayStation 4 on 29%, Xbox One, on 19%, and Xbox Series X/S on just 11%.

Few other games dared to release alongside Call Of Duty, although Fortnite Minty Legends Pack, which saw 33% of sales on the Nintendo Switch, debuted at number nine and Just Dance 2022 at number 11, with an even larger Switch majority of 88%.

UK all formats retail chart – 6 November

1 (-) Call Of Duty: Vanguard (PS5/PS4/XO)
2 (1) FIFA 22 (PS4/XO/PS5/NS)
3 (3) Mario Party Superstars (NS)
4 (5) Mario Kart 8 Deluxe (NS)
5 (17) Marvel’s Spider-Man: Miles Morales (PS5/PS4)
6 (2) Marvel’s Guardians Of The Galaxy (PS5/PS4/XO)
7 (6) Animal Crossing: New Horizons (NS)
8 (7) Minecraft (NS)
9 (-) Fortnite Minty Legends Pack (NS/PS4/XO/PS5)
10(4) Far Cry 6 (PS5/XO/PS4)

Ukie Games Charts©, compiled by GfK

Japanese console chart – 31 October

1 (-) Mario Party Superstars (NS)
2 (-) Super Robot Wars 30 (NS)
3 (-) Super Robot Wars 30 (PS4)
4 (-) Project Zero: Maiden Of Black Water (PS4)
5 (-) Tokimeki Memorial: Girl’s Side 4th Heart (NS)
6 (-) Project Zero: Maiden Of Black Water (NS)
7 (1) Demon Slayer: Kimetsu No Yaiba – The Hinokami Chronicles (PS4)
8 (5) Super Smash Bros. Ultimate (NS)
9 (6) Mario Kart 8 Deluxe (NS)
10(8) Minecraft (NS)

U.S. all formats chart – September

1 (1) Madden NFL 22 (XO/PS4/XSX/PS5/PC)
2 (-) FIFA 22 (XO/PS4/NS/XSX/PS5/PC)
3 (-) NBA 2K22 (XO/PS4/NS/XSX/PS5/PC)*
4 (-) Tales Of Arise (XO/PS4/XSX/PS5/PC)
5 (-) Diablo 2: Resurrected (XO/PS4/NS/XSX/PS5/PC)
6 (-) Deathloop (PS5/PC)
7 (3) Call Of Duty: Black Ops Cold War (XO/PS4/XSX/PS5/PC)
8 (2) Ghost Of Tsushima (PS4/PS5)
9 (5) Marvel’s Spider-Man: Miles Morales (PS4/PS5)
10 (-) Life Is Strange: True Colors (XO/PS4/XSX/PS5/PC)

*does not include digital sales

Note: U.S. charts are organised by revenue, not unit sales

The NPD Group/NPD Funworld

GameCentral Top 10 – 2021

1. Returnal (PS5)
2. Monster Hunter Rise (NS)
3. It Takes Two (XO/PS4/XSX/PS5/PC)
4. Guilty Gear -Strive- (PS4/PS5/PC)
5. Chicory: A Colorful Tale (PS4/PS5/PC)
6. Little Nightmares 2 (XO/PS4/NS/XSX/PS5/PC)
7. Genesis Noir (XO/NS/PC)
8. New Pokémon Snap (NS)
9. Scarlet Nexus (XO/PS4/XSX/PS5/PC)
10. R-Type Final 2 (XO/PS4/NS/XSX/PC)

GameCentral Top 20 – 2020

1. Animal Crossing: New Horizons (NS)
2. The Last Of Us Part 2 (PS4)
3. Spelunky 2 (PS4/PC)
4. Ori And The Will Of The Wisps (XO/NS/XSX/PC)
5. Final Fantasy 7 Remake (PS4)
6. Half-Life: Alyx (PC VR)
7. Nioh 2 (PS4)
8. Hades (NS/PC)
9. Cyberpunk 2077 (XO*/PS4*/PC/Stadia)
10. Spider-Man: Miles Morales (PS4/PC)
11. Doom Eternal (XO/PS4/NS/PC)
12. The Pathless (PS4/PS5/PC/iOS)
13. Star Wars: Squadrons (XO/PS4/PC)
14. Horace (NS/PC)
15. Ghostrunner (XO/PS4/NS*/PC)
16. Paper Mario: The Origami King (NS)
17. Streets Of Rage 4 (XO/PS4/NS/PC)
18. Immortals Fenyx Rising (XO/PS4/NS/XSX/PS5/PC/Stadia)
19. Mortal Shell (XO/PS4/PC)
20. Wasteland 3 (XO/PS4/PC)

The chart above lists our best reviewed titles of 2020 but as usual does not include remakes (with the special exception of Final Fantasy 7), remasters, expansions, re-releases, compilations, games not yet released in the UK, or versions of games previously released on other formats.

*Not recommended at launch