UK Charts: PES launch sales drop 42% year-on-year

F1 2018 retains the No.1 spot in the UK physical charts, holding off PES 2019. Konami's football title misses out on the top spot by 250 unit sales (physical data only). F1 2019 enjoyed a decent second week with a 49% drop in weekly sales (which is a pretty solid performance for a game in its second week). The F1 games tend to be impacted by the popularity of the real world sport, which can vary depending on how competitive the season is proving to be.

[chris235]

reports on physical sales only is not on the height of the time anymore. it‘s time people are going to learn this. especially bloggers and so called internet journalists.

[bouzebbal]

you are maybe right, but i doubt digital sales jumped at least 42% YoY.
As i see it, i think the decline in sales is due to world cup. EA sold so many copies of FIFA18 world cup edition which was released in May at bargain price. Lots of people are still playing that today.

FIFA19 sales will also decline compared to last year due to same reasons.

[Nyxus]

Physical sales still make up the majority of all sales though.

[Lostbytes]

I have not bought physical in almost 10 years......(just my two cents), I fell there are ALOT of digital sales that are not counted.

[Nyxus]

@ Lostbytes: True, there are, and if I'm not mistaken they're going to include digital sales in the near future. But physical still accounts for most of the sales today. So a drop like that still says something.

[solidossnakos]

You're not wrong, they still do but, launch figures are leaning toward digital.
In the long run physical sales are the majority thats because they see more price cut in the life cycle of the game more than digital sales do.
For example amazon will have price cuts or deals for physical more often and before the PSN or XboxStore do.

[Fluke_Skywalker]

I personally haven't bought a physical copy of a game for a long long time. Disney Infinity for my son was probably the last physical disc I bought!
And I've bought a lot of games since then. None of which are counted in any charts 🤔

[zivtheawesome]

i wonder if this also in part due to spiderman releasing so soon to that game.

[cfc83]

Could be a number of factors. Losing the champions league license to EA is a big deal in Europe, and probably further afield.

[skwidd]

The game on the pitch is pretty incredible. But Konami hasn’t been updating the game enough for the casuals such as presentation and game modes. On the surface it looks untouched. I’ve been buying the games for the last 7 years or so (fan from the original international soccer 64) but I’ve been debating getting this one because of Konami’s consistent empty promises of bigger changes.

[Mroc13]

I skipped last year but decided to dive in this year. I have been buying PES digital for years though as it's not a game with any kind of resale value. Not many people play it where I live and after a year sports games are practically worthless. Something really needs to be done about the licenses. That is the biggest issue for most casuals. The game play is spot on. PES just feels nautral.

[Dfooster]

I don't know why they don't keep developing their match engine and lease it to EA to be used in the Fifa series. Clearly having the best gameplay doesn't matter in a football game where everyone would rather have the authentic licences that konami could never afford to prize away from EA.

At least then the gamers would get one amazing game

[badz149]

yeap, sadly PES does have better gameplay than FIFA which I feel gets worst especially since they started using Frostbite Engine. but it just won't sell like FIFA does. I guess you're right, football game fans care more about licenses than gameplay

[Lime123]

God of War still in Top 10 after 5 months.

I expect 10 million announcement by the end of year.

[Mroc13]

Great football game too

[Kribwalker]

I can’t belive mario kart is sitting in the top 10 still and it came out a whole year before GOW. Not bad for nintendo

[Lime123]

In Top 10:

2 PS4 exclusives
1 Xbox One "exclusive"

[Legatus]

Hahahaaahaahaaha

It's so funny when green fanatic uses Nintendo exclusive to try downplaying PS4 exclusive because it haven't got any xbox "exclusive" to counter with it, now that's a new low for the green army. But this is Unbiased Kribwalker we are talking about, he is after all the most unbiased N4G member.

[badz149]

while other Switch games don't even make a blip on the chart anymore. a new MH game and it debuted only 9th and will be further down the chart next week. no wonder 3rd parties aren't very excited to release their AAA game on the thing. the efforts it takes just to make it run on that potato of a console is not gonna be properly rewarded with sales by the Mario-minded Nintendo gamers.

[philm87]

As someone who plays a lot of PES I'm really pleased with the 2019. Definitely plays better than any other footy game I've played. I can see why casuals would be disappointed though, other than improved visuals (looks stunning!) they may not notice a big change. Gameplay tweaks are probably only noticeable if you play regularly, and a lot of the other changes are centered around the myclub mode. Could do a lot more obvious changes, but maybe they're holding them back for next year.

[Segata]

Why does every soccer game have a dude screaming or looking constipated?