The two incredibly well-made, bestselling games Animal Crossing: New Horizons and Ghost of Tsushima battle for number one on the UK charts, and New Horizons has just pulled out ahead. The chart data for the week ending with August 8 shows New Horizons recovering after a small sales dip after Ghost of Tsushima's big release.
The relaxing island life simulator is getting its 21st week in the UK charts, although the New Horizons is selling out worldwide. While the PS4 exclusive Ghost of Tsushima nabbed the top spot for a solid three weeks, Animal Crossing: New Horizons is back, helping Nintendo Switch releases make up six out of the entire Top Ten.
New Horizons was behind number one for eleven weeks, although it's been present globally in charts since its March release. The game recently hit a milestone by becoming the second highest bestselling game in Japan, falling just behind the Pokemon Red, Green, and Blue trio (so New Horizons is the bestselling Japanese Single SKU). But, it has so much momentum that some people are projecting New Horizons to overtake the original Pokemon games.
Ghost of Tsushima saw a 46% sales drop, as the hype behind the action-adventure game set in Japan might be finally dying down. Still, the game's impact is not to be discounted as it notably broke a Sony record for selling 2.4 million copies in 3 days, and there's still a chance that Ghost of Tsushima could challenge New Horizons for the number one spot again.
Taking third place is Mario Kart 8 Deluxe, followed in order by FIFA 20, Minecraft (Switch edition), F1 2020, Paper Mario: The Origami King, Grand Theft Auto 5, Ring Fit Adventure, and 51 Worldwide Games. The biggest change to the chart is FIFA 20, which was all the way back at #19 last week. This week also saw an end to the The Last of Us 2's eight-week stay in the Top Ten as it dropped to #11. Even with The Last of Us 2's amazing sales in the UK, most games don't enjoy the long lasting hype and sustained great sales that Animal Crossing: New Horizons is enjoying.
The New Horizons phenomenon is a sight to behold, as millions of people around the globe enjoy the social aspect of the game, the customization, and the relaxing escape from real-world problems. And all those people are constantly convincing their friends to also purchase copies of the game and join them on their islands, so regardless of whether New Horizons does slip behind another game again, it will probably be on bestseller lists worldwide for a while yet.
Animal Crossing: New Horizons is out now exclusively on the Nintendo Switch.
Source: Gamesindustry.biz, Nintendo Life
