Fire Emblem: Three Houses takes second UK No.1

Fire Emblem: Three Houses has confirmed its excellent launch by managing to keep its position at the top of the UK physical charts this week. Sales for the Nintendo Switch title were down 60 per cent week-on-week, which is decent for a second week on shelves, as sales usually drastically plummet. 

Taking advantage of a quiet week, FIFA 19 charted at No.2 following a 24 per cent boost in sales. The Switch version particularly did well, with sales for this edition going up 74 per cent week-on-week. 

The irony is not lost on us here, as just last week EA CEO Andrew Wilson essentially said that EA’s lack of support for the Switch was due to its players preferring to play its titles on PS4, Xbox One and PC. This was in reply to a question during EA’s earnings call last week, during which someone pointed out that The Sims would be a good fit for the Switch, and went on to ask how EA determines which platforms to bring its games to. Wilson answered (thanks Ars Technica): “[…] We have a lot of data that would suggest a great many Switch owners also [own] a PlayStation 4 or an Xbox One or a PC and very often choose to play the games that we make on those platforms even though they have a Switch and they enjoy a lot of great content on the Switch.” 

FIFA 19 is one of the very few EA titles to actually be out on the Switch – though in a stripped down version that doesn’t include the story mode for instance. But, going back to the charts, it didn’t seem to bother players this week, as they bought the game en masse, on Switch and other platforms, due to the imminent start of the 2019/20 football season and retailers’ promotions. It is FIFA 19’s highest position in the charts since week 25, GfK noted, when the title actually topped the charts.

The only new entry in the charts this week was another EA title, Madden NFL 20, which debuted at No.5. The title sold almost exactly the same number of physical copies than its predecessor at launch – it actually sold 88 extra copies compared to Madden NFL 19 during its first week last year. As EA’s digital shift accelerates, steady physical sales year-on-year is actually an excellent performance.

Having debuted at No.2 last week, Wolfenstein: Youngblood had to settle for No.8 for its second week on shelves, with a 61 per cent decrease in sales week-on-week.

Here’s the Top Ten for the week ending August 3rd 2019 (data courtesy of GfK/Ukie):

Rank	Title	Publisher
1	Fire Emblem: Three Houses	Nintendo
2	FIFA 19	EA
3	Crash Team Racing Nitro-Fueled	Activision
4	Super Mario Maker 2	Nintendo
5	Madden NFL 20 – NEW	EA
6	Grand Theft Auto V	Rockstar
7	Mario Kart 8 Deluxe	Nintendo
8	Wolfenstein: Youngblood	Bethesda
9	Super Smash Bros Ultimate	Nintendo
10	Minecraft	Nintendo