Rockstar’s cinematic western shooter has held on to the top spot in the UK Charts for another week, with Red Dead Redemption 2 Christmas No. 1 for 2018. The news was revealed yesterday by Ukie, the trade body for video games, with Red Dead Redemption 2 reigning victor at the top of the top ten Ukie Games Chart for its second consecutive week. FIFA 19 came in at second place, with Call of Duty Black Ops 4 in third place, to little surprise.
Both EA’s FIFA series and Activision’s Call of Duty series have dominated the Christmas charts in the past, with the franchises holding eight Christmas No. 1s each (via Ukie). In comparison, Rockstar’s only other Christmas No. 1 was their 2002 title Grand Theft Auto Vice City, making this year a great success for the publisher.
The Red Dead Redemption 2 Christmas No. 1 spot was a close call, after being unseated only two weeks ago by the release of Super Smash Bros Ultimate. Moreover, FIFA 19 was close on the heels of Red Dead Redemption 2 in the charts, with a 45 percent sales increase in the run-up to Christmas (via GamesIndustry.biz). In fact, FIFA 19 also ends this year as the best-selling title, even if it narrowly missed out on the top spot for Christmas.
Aside from the Christmas No. 1, a clear pattern of demand this holiday for Nintendo Switch titles is evident, with Super Smash Bros Ultimate at fifth place and Mario Kart 8 at seventh, after the handheld console passed more than 20 million sales in July this year.
It’s important to note that these rankings are based on physical sales only, so it’s unclear whether digital sales would have had a wider impact. The full UK top ten rankings for Christmas 2018 are listed below.
1 – Red Dead Redemption 2
2 – FIFA 19
3 – Call of Duty: Black Ops 4
4 – Battlefield 5
5 – Super Smash Bros Ultimate
6 – Spyro Reignited Trilogy
7 – Mario Kart 8
8 – Marvel’s Spider-Man
9 – Crash Bandicoot N-Sane Trilogy
10 – Forza Horizon 4
