Shenmue 3 was one of the most highly anticipated games of the year before its launch last week. It was the best-funded videogame Kickstarter campaign ever and went on to receive a generally positive fan reception at launch. However, the long-awaited game has struggled to make much of a dent in the UK physical sales charts, coming in at No. 17 in its debut week.
Perhaps it is an unsurprising result, given the Shenmue series’ status as a cult hit rather than being a game with mainstream, blockbuster appeal. What is surprising, however, is that a game that came out on PC and PS4 was beaten by the PC-exclusive Football Manager 2020, which debuted at No. 16.
Obviously, releasing on two platforms rather than one is itself an advantage, but there’s more to it than that. Only physical sales count towards UKIE’s charts – so what the charts actually tell us is that more people bought a boxed copy of Football Manager 2020 than a boxed copy of Shenmue 3, even though the latter came out on PC and PS4, where a greater proportion of players buy physical.
Elsewhere, Call of Duty: Modern Warfare returns to No. 1, while Star Wars Jedi: Fallen Order keeps its No. 2 spot. Pokemon Sword, FIFA 20, and Pokemon Shield round out the top five – but Fortnite‘s new Darkfire bundle does manage to sneak into the top 10.
You can see the full top 10 below via GfK Chart-Track and UKIE.
UK all-format physical sales chart, week ending November 23
- Call of Duty: Modern Warfare
- Star Wars Jedi: Fallen Order
- Pokemon Sword
- FIFA 20
- Pokemon Shield
- Luigi’s Mansion 3
- Mario Kart 8 Deluxe
- Minecraft
- Mario & Sonic at the Olympic Games: Tokyo 2020
- Fortnite: Darkfire Bundle