UK Charts: Nintendo Remains Strong As Starfield Warps Into View

That £399 disc PS5 deal returning seems to be making a big impact on the charts.

@JohnnyMind Well the game isn't officially released yet ( out on 6th ) , that is just the number of people who essentially preordered the Premium Edition for the early access , so I guess next weeks charts will be the real tell !

These charts are pretty pointless since they're only physical sales, and therefore massively artificially inflate Switch software sales relative to other platforms (the majority of games sold are physical on Switch whereas it's the other way around on other platforms). Plus it ignores PC sales as part of that process. And then you have stuff like Starfield releasing on Game Pass and therefore millions have no reason to buy it, physical or digital. It's like a music chart that only takes CD sales into account.

I guess early access is the new release date. I’m just waiting on regular release on gamepass for starfield.

Starfield is interesting.

A lot of people paid extra to get early access but when it launches this week proper I would imagine the majority who were willing to wait to play it (including myself) will just do so on Game Pass.

Probably will top the charts next week but not expecting TotK/Hogwarts level of sales.

I'll wait for Mario in October, straight to number 1.

Really happy to see TotK still in the top 5 even after a few months on the market.

@Matroska Not as true as you may think, as Nintendo has stated several times in their financials, digital Switch sales now account for over 50% of all software sales. Sure, they're probably inflated relative to the other systems, but not by as much as claimed.

But likewise, Nintendo doesnt share digital data with these sales charts companies, so when the overall monthly sales charts come out, Nintendo is actually massively underrepresented in the charts compared to the competition.

So we never actually get an accurate read on sales until Nintendo provides them with their usual transparency every quarter. Which is more than what the others do.

Because Starfield was yet another overhyped stinker.

@Olliemar28 Even then from Microsoft's perspective the Gamepass uptake from Starfield is probably going to be the metric they care about rather than boxed sales.

Aaaaw...where is the BRILLIANT 'Samba De Amigo' on this weeks charts?!
It is a brilliant game and I worry people will miss it as promotion has not been great for it, but it is so much fun!

@theModestMouse did you play it?

I hear Starfield is a tough game. People have ragequit in frustration because they struggle to get past the pronouns section at the start of the game.

Looks like that 'back to school' discount for Hogwarts Legacy was a good marketing choice. Still haven't bought it myself though. Too much on the backlog and a stuffed October. Black Friday, perhaps.

6 hours into Starfield. It was good to start with like something new, but some things not great, systems wise, graphics wise and in general.
I got dam frustrated, inventory management, trying find your away around, dam loading all the time hidden by cut scenes.
I’m now back playing TOTK, Pikmin 4.
I can say no more about the game.
I tried for Xbox and Bethesda but that’s my last Xbox try I can ever imagine for a very long time.
Xbox and their studios just haven’t got what it takes to be up there with Nintendo and Sonys big guns and far from it as well.

@OldGamer999 Technically, it's a solid game overall. You can tell a lot of work has been put into it, but for me, it just seems to miss that fun factor. It's certainly not a pick-up and play type of game..
It will likely be number one next week but then quickly go down the charts...
I wish it was better for Microsoft as they really need a hit currently...

@BANJO
Me too, I wanted it to be tops for Xbox and Bethesda. But I got frustrated to many times.
Went to a few planets as well and outside could have been on a Xbox360 for most part. I thought new Atlantis was so bland and boring.
Getting around with no mini map and markers was a pain on new Atlantis took me ages to find certain places/characters again even though I had been there before.
The whole experience just did not flow for me and felt awkward from a gameplay perspective experience.
It also could have done with better inventory and GUI and the loading, could have done with PS5 SSD speed for sure.
Overall the fps shooting was a good experience in battle and of course 60fps smoothness would have been nice.
Space battles seemed ok ish.
It’s a shame a bit more time to iron things out and taking full usage of the series x power would have helped loads.
It’s was just chunky and clunky and not put together all that well overall and of course it is a Jack of trades and a master of none type of game. Good and ok but nothing special.

@theModestMouse yeah from some of the reviews and gameplay ive seen it definitely isn't the game of year most people were hoping for.

Starfield deserves to top the charts. It's the next-gen killer app the Xbox Series X has desperately needed.

@Axecon
As you can see from my comments in this thread it’s definitely not a next generation series x killer app.
At first I thought IGN and Gamespot were harsh with 7/10. But after a good few hours in, you can see why, as per my comments.
It will have its follows and that’s nice for Bethesda.

Starfield's true numbers will probably be legit next week but with the 30fps version of Baldur's Gate 3 for PS5 also selling next week, not sure if SF could get into the top 5.

Having all three consoles is time consuming

@theModestMouse Still better than day one Cyberpunk

@theModestMouse Stinker? General consensus is that it’s good (in some cases very good) but nothing earth shattering. Lowest scores I’ve seen from the handful of reviews I’ve read/watched are around a 7 which isn’t bad at all.

People in general need to stop putting games on pedestals before they’ve even released and stop the hyperbole of a game being rubbish if it’s not the best thing they’ve ever played. It looks to be a solid enough title, shame it’s not much more than that but it doesn’t sound like it’s a disaster of a game.

Have no real interest in Starfield. Just looks very bland and boring. I bought a Series S at the start of the year and I think I've played maybe 2 games on Gamepass.

A Lego game at number 2 makes me feel like it’s 2012 and we’re still playing on the Wii. 🤷🏻‍♂️

@Olliemar28

Hey, off-topic, but why no mention of the eshop Blockbuster Sale in the U.S. from NL?

I was waiting for the Series X to get a few heavy hitters before seriously considering it. Starfield is the first game to make me scratch my chin and consider making a financial mistake lol.

I have all three systems and (at least not yet) no interest in Starfield.

@ActionPanther I was the same way with Game Pass. But if you join Microsoft rewards (assuming you haven’t already), there is an incentive to play Game Pass games. From there, I have found several fun games that would have not considered otherwise.

Well, apologies for if I came accross as trolling. I'll try again lol.

Healthy PS5 and Switch hardware sales by the looks (reckon PS5 in first place.) And enough people thought playing Starfield day one was worth 35 quid that it made #7! Bonkers.

@JohnnyMind

That's not Starfield.

That's a code for $50 that lets you play Starfield 5 days early.

Starfield's public release is this week, so it will show up on next week's chart. It will also mostly be meaningless, seeing it will either ignore the fact that 25 million people get it for free, or will do what several other games have done and include Game Pass "downloads" as sales. Either way, neither is a really representative number.

The "surprise" they are speaking to is that enough people were willing to pay almost a full price game's worth of money to play it 5 days sooner that DOING THAT made the 10 ten list. Which ... yeah, that's crazy, when you think about it.

wats funny is that starfield is having issues having bugs and glitches at launch.

@somnambulance Exactly. Just because a game isn’t universally raved about doesn’t mean it’s not worth playing. Even saying that, Starfield’s sitting at an 87 on metacritic which is a monster score.

Then again we live in a time where anything below a 9 is considered rubbish it seems and have been for a long time. I remember when GameSpot gave Twilight Princess an 8.8 and people were furious 🙄

@OldGamer999 It was even originally going to release a year earlier, I'm glad it didn't.
As you say, it has parts where it looks and plays great, but other areas where it's clunky and chunky.
It's still a good solid game, but just misses that requited spark to make it great.
I really hope now that next month's Forza Motorsport is a hit so that Microsoft has a good exclusive to promote going into the holidays, we shall see...

@JohnnyMind

The thing to keep in mind is that no sales charts include accurate digital sales. There is simply no way to track that outside of getting numbers directly from online stores or the publisher directly. Not only that but if the publisher is not publicly traded ... they can just lie. Unless you are misleading investors, there is nothing to stop you from just making the numbers up. So digital sales numbers only really get included when the online store has permission from the publisher to release accurate numbers ... with Nintendo published games being basically the only time this happened up until very recently.

Game Pass complicates this even further. Microsoft pays a developer based on a mix of projected and actual downloads and play time, but the contracts use the same "per unit" language that's part of sales distribution contracts and use the same type of license.

So if I download Starfield and Microsoft pays Bethesda for that download ... that's a "sale". Bethesda sold a copy of the game to Game Pass. (Being owned my MS studios doesn't change this because of how the accounting is done)

Several games have already used this to heavily inflate their sales numbers, by allowing Microsoft to publish digital "sales" numbers from the MS store.

So either Starfield will also do this, in which case the number we get will be crazy inflated, or they won't ... in which case the number will be much lower then expected as Game Pass has seen a HUGE spike in subs from people getting it for $11 rather then paying $80 for this game.

So either way ... we won't really know how well it sold until we get press releases.

It is important to note that the $35 code is currently the best selling Xbox game in the world. Not the premium EDITION, which is a $90 sku that will be included in next weeks charts and comes with early access, but a CODE that people who have preordered the game or have Game Pass can use to play it early at (best case) $7 a day. And this is only including physical copies of the code from retailers like Best Buy and Game Stop. It doesn't include anyone who just clicked on the button on Game Pass that lets you buy it.

INSANE.

@BANJO
Forza I thought will be very good, turn 10 and playground games normally do very well with FM and FH.
There is a but, Forza can be a 96% but won’t make much difference, the game is a bit niche and won’t push sales much outside a few maybe USA and probably not even the UK nowadays.

It’s to little to late for Xbox, Redfall, Starfield and Forza all needed to set the gaming and public world a light and be at the top for their respective game.

Of course it doesn’t help Xbox that their competition like it or not, get the right games out and have huge followings and are pretty dam strong overall.

This is part of another post I made, but there seems to be some confusion so I want to make something about the Starfield entry clear ...

It is important to note that the $35 code is currently the best selling Xbox game in the world. Not the premium EDITION, which is a $90 sku that will be included in next weeks charts and comes with early access, but a CODE that people who have preordered the game or have Game Pass can use to play it early at (best case) $7 a day.

This is only including physical copies of the code from retailers like Best Buy and Game Stop. It doesn't include anyone who just clicked on the button on Game Pass that lets you buy it.

So a box with a code in it that lets you play a game you have already bought at full price a few days before release is one of the best selling gaming skus in the world right now.

That is INSANE. And honestly, likely not very good news for us players moving forwards

Starfield isnt released yet. People are playing the beta version.
Man what a great looking game.

Huh. Starfield debuts at #7? It's not terrible, but for a game that's been hyped for years it feels... kind of low.

EDIT: Oh wait, it's an Early Access special edition. Guess that explains it. The standard edition may debut higher next week then.

@OldGamer999 Yes, Forza will likely not push saĺes that high. Xbox will as it stands come a distant third it seems.

The thing is, with the acquisition of Activision Blizzard looking likely to be wrapped up soon, plus all the other studios they already have, they won't be doing a SEGA anytime soon and leaving the console space.
They are here for the long haul, and the Series X/S is still pacing around or above the 360 numbers.
None of this is do or die for Xbox, in isolation Series S/X is doing more than enough numbers wise for it to Surpass the Xbox One generation.
It will be interesting to see how they play their cards going forwards...

@BANJO
I think Microsoft’s strategy with Xbox is to buy their way to the top by owning as many software studios/developers as possible, it’s plain and clear and they have have the funds to do it.

I just want them to produce top games like they used to back in the day and so far over the last three years it has been a poor show.

When third party developers are producing better games across multiple consoles including series consoles than Microsoft’s own in house studios then something is not really right.
I’m slowly beginning to believe it’s and gamepass average good game so that will do strategy that Microsoft are going with.

@OldGamer999 thats not going to help them in the long run if thats all they do is buying developers.

@RiasGremory
Who nose, to me they are just a middle of the road games company at the minute drifting along pushing out average gamepass games at best with no real direction that gives me what they used to produce decades ago.
With both console and gamepass sales showing that. This was meant to be their year and they are getting roasted by the other two.

@OldGamer999 it didnt help them either wen microsoft admitted they lost the console war.

@HeadPirate I'm glad you get it. My last post got removed for trolling. But so much this. If folk will happily pay 7 quid a day, then what signal does that send Microsoft for Gamepass fees? I totally agree, it's crazy. (And it's technically day one, not early access. That's just pulling wool over everyone's eyes.)

@RiasGremory
Like I said, strange goings with Microsoft and Xbox. I can’t make them out, apart from the long game maybe. Which is buy and own everything their way to the top over many years.

@OldGamer999 hoping some of these devs refuse to get bought out cause it be bad for everyone unless its ea or 2k/taketwo which people wouldnt complain about since their competing whos the worse game company ever with the practices their pulling these days.

@Haruki_NLI actually it isn't even down to the hardware companies to give you accurate software sales for many of their games. So the issue is even worse than many realise.

Many developers don't release figures monthly, some MIGHT release them yearly but take the recent announcement by CDPR that Witcher III has sold over 50 million units, the last announcement we got put them at 30 million and that was around 2019, so in 4 years we got one update. Same with Skyrim and Bethesda.

Capcom are the same, take Monster Hunt Rise for example, last update we got put the Switch version around 8m sold and that wasn't even the first full years sales figures and they haven't released any figures since, but it's a Monster Hunter game so i wouldn't be surprised if it has over 13m sales on the Switch, but until Capcom says something, we'll never know.

@somnambulance
I think you summed Starfield up there very well, especially as i am now 8 hours in.
It’s a solid Xbox studio game release, which in todays world of gaming also on other consoles and other games from third parties is average and not good enough.
The fact other studios from the other two and third parties produce better games across sometimes multiple platforms include Xbox consoles shows the not great state of Xbox studio games.
It’s an average gamepass game at best and definitely deserves the 7s it got from a few reviewers. Again what they been doing all these years and after a delay or two.
Some of simple GUI and design processes are terrible from these so called professionals.

@OldGamer999 They certainly have the funds if they wanted to, but they seem to be in a strange position.
As you said, many of their studios seem to take a great deal of time to produce games, with the majority of the exclusives only being good at best and certainly not great.
That's the worry that Gamepass Ultimate brings. I have a 3 year membership to the service so am heavily invested in it, but agree that the quality of games may lessen as the service grows.
It's a strategy that in my view needs tweeking and they are still finding their way with it.
Time will tell if they succeed.
Part of me wants them to but part of me doesn't. In addition to Gamepass I still like to buy many physical games, especially on Switch, so I'm torn really 😅

@RiasGremory
Just hope Microsoft stop buying studios now and focus on managing the ones they now have to produce the best games possible that we have ever seen.
They need to get back to the old Halo and gears of war quality days, games that turn heads and the public loved.

@GrailUK

Paying $7 a day to play a game and paying $7 a day to be part of an exclusive group that can say they got to play it first are not comparable. People WILL pay $800 for exclusive, extra special "I'm better then you" seats for Premier league games, but that's never going to make them reconsider offering $10 tickets. In fact, the $10 seats NEED TO BE THERE for the $800 seats to have value.

This isn't going to be an indicator to Microsoft that they can start "renting" games. Both EA and UBisoft already offer a "play early" perk as part of a higher tier subscription, nether are very popular, and MS made the choice to not include that in Game Pass. This isn't going to change anything on a platform level.

But it is an indicator to publishers that you should do a tiered release. You can charge people to beta test you day one patch AND get a few days to fix issues before lifting your review embargo? Why wouldn't you! So we are likely to see this again on a game-by-game basis.

@BANJO
Only my opinion of course but currently their strategy is not working, Gamepass and average games for it.
It’s doing nothing for them and that’s why they want to buy more studios, basically buy everyone and own everyone if you can’t beat them.

All I want is them to produce the old day magic when they were in their prime with Gears and Halo etc. But I’m thinking they don’t want to invest in that time and management to make those games that top quality, they just want average for gamepass and that is what hurts really.

@HeadPirate I find it obnoxious that they can release a game and still lawfully claim you can play it day one a week later lol. It's so disingenuous.

@BANJO
See it’s me really maybe I need to come to terms with after decades of gaming.
That Microsoft have changed Xbox strategy and its subscription service with average good games and that is that like it or not. And not the old Xbox days where they produced the best games for their console and the use of its power. Third parties are doing better than their own studios.

I will stick more with Sony and Nintendo as mainly not always they strive to get the best games from their developers and the best use and power from their consoles to create console and game sales.

Unfortunately average for me doesn’t do it for me especially when you can see a game could be better and make more use of a consoles power, it’s like a crime to me to cut it short and just make average, subscription service or not.

@OldGamer999 I agree, the 360 for me was when Microsoft fired on all cylinders.
I had a Wii at the time and finally gave in and got a 360 as many other friends had one at the time.
Playing Gears 2/3 Halo 3, ODST and Reach along with Forza and Project Gotham Racing in HD really impressed me at the time.
I think I've been looking for Microsoft to match that ever since... and they haven't unfortunately.
Xbox One is a solid console, and it had some good games but not quite the same magic overall. It's the same story so far with the Series S/X

@BANJO
Could not agree more and you summed it up very well there.
360 was Xbox golden era, but time moves on and I guess I have to accept Xbox as it is, even if it means I move on from them.
There is plenty from the other two from in house and third parties mainly PS5, Xbox currently has nothing to offer me from their in house studios and Starfield proved that to me again with its average ness for gamepass.

@GrailUK

I don't disagree completely, but it's less "wild west" then you might think. The game hasn't been released, as in no one currently has a non-revocable license to play the game without restrictions. Remember we don't buy games, we license software for personal use.

The 5 day preview is 100% revocable and only applies if you can play the game connected to Bethesda servers. They could stop the preview right now and no one who paid for it would have any recourse, because the preview only allowed you to play the game when Bethesda says you can, with no uptime guarantee.

At 8pm EST on the 5th the license will change to the non-revocable (as long as you do not violate the EULA) personal use terms that we generally call "owning" the game, and unlimited offline play will be allowed.

It's actually no different then review copies. Everyone playing Starfield right now is doing so under the same license review copies go out with.

So for Super Mario Wonder, as an example, Nintendo will say we are playing it "day one" despite that a number in the 10,000s or so of people will already have had the game ... likely for over a month given Nintendo review copies go out crazy earily.

In the case of Starfield, the number is in the 100,000s ... but it's not any different on a fundamental level.

@HeadPirate Well, people will make their beds.

Really glad to see the early access for steam doing well. I'm about 12 hours in so far and I would give it a 9/10 which seems in line with metacritic. I can imagine the game will sell pretty well if not at the moster Hogwarts legacy levels. When HL comes to switch that will out sell every single game this year even COD.

@martynstuff sounds like some real snowflakes

@somnambulance
We just have different opinions of Starfield and probably expectations of the quality Xbox studios should be producing. For me Starfield is an average ish under achieved game that’s being hyped, though IGN and Gamespot stuck to it with the 7/10.
Even though I was dumb enough to pay for early access I wish I hadn’t, and have now stopped playing, we live and learn.

Yes 2023 is a good gaming year so far.

@GrailUK It's more than just paying for the game 5 days early. I did it for Forza Horizon 5, and will do it for the upcoming Forza Motorsport, but the price of the 'premium upgrade' is the same price as the future DLC packs, so the new cars, tracks, or in Horizon's case, expansion maps. If you know you'll want the DLC anyway, it's a no brainer to get 5 days 'early access' from it too.

I bet Fifa will be at... number 10? What madness is this? Are people getting bored of Football games? 😆

@BANJO
While i dont have a series s/x i do like how they have been handling things when it comes to things like backwards compatibility and their account system, i did purchase an xbox one down the line and it was nice seeing that i could still download a lot of the games i bought back on 360.

didnt play as many newer games on it but i did enjoy my time on PSO2 (even if the game launching with multiple updates worth of content made it confusing to get into initially) and naturally picked up rare replay ASAP.

also that 60fps update for sonic unleashed was awesome to see.

@Mgalens The Series S for the price is an amazing piece of kit, no doubts there. As you say, their backwards compatibility is second to none out of the big 3. They have a great amount going for them.

Rare Replay is fantastic, only issue I had was with Jet Force Gemini's controls. Even with an update I couldn't get it to control as well as it did on the N64. Other than that, it's a great collection of games. 😃