FIFA 19 has managed to retain its crown as the fastest-selling game in the UK this year despite a strong attempt from the highly-anticipated Red Dead Redemption 2 from Rockstar Games.
It has been eight years since the makers of Grand Theft Auto released the first Western action-adventure game. The original was a smash hit, making the long-awaited sequel one of the biggest releases of the year.
Red Dead Redemption 2 still sold admirably, doubling the sales of its predecessor and comfortably beating rival Call of Duty Black Ops 4 in its opening week.
Yet, it still could not compete with the launch window sales of FIFA 19. With the huge addition of Champions League licensing to the franchise, the sports game was a smash hit in the football-loving UK.
With up-to-date squads and kits, FIFA has become a must-buy for any football fan but it is still an impressive feat that it was able to sell faster than Red Dead Redemption 2, especially when the Rockstar game is thought to have sold around 600,000 copies.
The advantage FIFA has over its competition is a fairly uncompetitive release window with no other major titles released during the end of September.
Meanwhile, Red Dead has had to compete with some of the biggest gaming franchises, including Call of Duty and Mario Party, as more and more AAA titles are released as developers look to drum up interest ahead of the busy Christmas period.
Still, Red Dead has unsurprisingly topped this week’s charts and will likely keep that spot for a while. At the same time, FIFA 19 continues to sell well, taking third this week despite having already been out for over a month.
There are still plenty of popular games to release this year, including Super Smash Bros Ultimate and Fallout 76, but it is unlikely we will see any sell as quickly in the UK as FIFA 19 has this year.