God of War Ragnarok launch was bigger than Call of Duty, Elden Ring and Pokémon | UK Boxed Charts

God of War Ragnarok is the UK’s second biggest boxed game launch of the year, behind FIFA 23.

It means the PlayStation game sold more boxed copies in its first week than Elden Ring, Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2 and the previous second place: Pokémon Legends: Arceus.

This is purely physical boxed sales, and as Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2 was a significant download title, it’s quite possible God of War wasn’t quite No.2 overall (we’ll get the download data later in the week). But even so, it’s a massive opening week for the Sony title. 82% of week one boxed sales were on PS5, with 18% on PS4.

As revealed by charts company GfK last week, Ragnarok sold more in its first day than any previous game in the series sold in its first week. According to the data firm, the game sold 51% more units in its first week than the previous best-selling game: 2018’s God of War. In just one week, the game is already the third best-selling God of War title of all time (and in terms of revenue, it is already No.2).

12% of PS5 God of War Ragnarok sales come from the official PS5 bundle. This bundle represented 60% of all PS5 consoles sold during the week, which is officially the biggest week for PS5 sales this year, says GfK boss Dorian Bloch.

That means Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2’s two-week stay at the top of the charts ends. The Activision Blizzard title falls to No.2 after a slight 39% drop in sales week-on-week.

The next biggest new game this month is Sonic Frontiers at No.4. The Sega game sold 5% more copies in its first week than 2017’s Sonic Forces, although digital will likely extend that a bit. 40% of boxed sales were on PS5, 34% on Nintendo Switch, 14% on Xbox and 12% on PS4.

Next, Football Manager 2023 makes No.11, with boxed launch sales down 18% over last year’s title (as a PC release, most of the game’s sales will be digital).

The PS4 version of Stray launched physically, which saw that game return to the charts at No.23, while Tactics Ogre: Reborn comes in at No.24 and Cobrai Kai 2: Dojo’s Rising debuts at No.28.

Elsewhere, the bump in PS5 sales means Sony’s other big game of the year — Horizon: Forbidden West — jumps to No.7 after a 141% increase in sales week-on-week. We also saw an increase in Switch game sales with Mario Kart 8: Deluxe (No.5) up 34%, Nintendo Switch Sports (No.6) up 19%, Splatoon 3 (No.8) up 22%, Animal Crossing: New Horizons (No.9) up 50% and Minecraft on Switch up 42%.

Here is the GfK UK Boxed Top Ten for the week ending November 12:

Sign up for the GI Daily here to get the biggest news straight to your inbox