There are no prizes for guessing what’s at the top of the sales charts this week, with Batman: Arkham City notching up the fourth biggest launch of the year, well ahead of fellow newcomer Football Manager 2012.
Not only was the release of Arkham City the biggest ever for publisher Warner Bros. but it was almost double that of the previous game Arkham Asylum. That makes it the fourth biggest launch this year, behind only FIFA 12, Gears Of War 3, and L.A. Noire.
Sales were very evenly split between the two consoles, with 52 per cent on the Xbox 360 and 48 per cent on the PlayStation 3. There is a PC version too but it’s not due out until November.
The next biggest entry in the charts was PC-only game Football Manager 2012, which together with Pro Evolution Soccer and FIFA made for three football games in the top 10 this week. Unusually it also means the top three titles in the individual formats chart are all by UK – specifically London – developers.
There were also plenty of other new entries lower down the charts, with The Sims 3 Pets coming in at number six in the multiformat chart and Ratchet & Clank: All 4 One making it as far as number 24.
Unexpectedly the highest new entry for a dancing game this week was Ubisoft’s Dance Juniors at number 20, a game which we’ve never heard of until now and frankly never want to. How it beat the much higher profile Dance Central 2 at number 40 we don’t know, but we imagine it was probably cheap.
Next week’s number one is also going to be pretty to easy to guess, with Battlefield 3 a shoe-in for the top spot. Kinect Sports: Season Two will also probably do well, although if it suffers the same poor start as Dance Central 2 then Microsoft might have something to start worrying about with regards to Kinect.
UK individual formats chart – 22 October
1 (-) Batman: Arkham City (360)
2 (-) Batman: Arkham City (PS3)
3 (-) Football Manager 2012 (PC)
4 (1) Forza Motorsport 4 (360)
5 (4) Just Dance 3 (Wii)
6 (2) FIFA 12 (360)
7 (3) FIFA 12 (PS3)
8 (-) The Sims 3 Pets (PC)
9 (9) Zumba Fitness (Wii)
10(6) PES 2012: Pro Evolution Soccer (PS3)
UK multiformat charts – 22 October
1 (-) Batman: Arkham City (360/PS3)
2 (2) FIFA 12 (PS2/Wii/360/PS3/PC/PSP/3DS)
3 (-) Football Manager 2012 (PC)
4 (1) Forza Motorsport 4 (360)
5 (3) Just Dance 3 (Wii)
6 (-) The Sims 3 Pets (Wii/360/PS3/PC/DS/3DS)
7 (5) PES 2012: Pro Evolution Soccer (360/PS3/PC)
8 (4) Rage (360/PS3/PC)
9 (8) Zumba Fitness (Wii/360/PS3)
10(6) Gears Of War 3 (360)
Leisure software charts compiled by Chart Track, (C)2011 UKIE Ltd
