Anthem tops UK charts in first week, but it's well below Mass Effect: Andromeda

News by Sherif Saed Contributing Editor

Published on Feb. 25, 2019

Anthem was the best-selling game in its launch week at UK retail.

GFK has published the results for the week of February 18, which mainly saw the release of Anthem. According to its findings (via Games Industry), BioWare's action game topped the charts, selling more in its first week than Far Cry: New Dawn, and Metro Exodus.

PS4 copies amounted to 54% of sales, compared to 40% on Xbox One. Despite this start, Anthem's first week sales are below those of Resident Evil 2, and Kingdom Hearts 3 - the two fastest-selling games so far in 2019.

According to Niko Partners analyst Daniel Ahmad, Anthem's first week sales were only 10% of the first week sales of Destiny. Of course, physical was a much bigger component of sales back then, not to mention the fact Destiny released on four platforms compared to Anthem's three.

The more damning statistic, however, is that Mass Effect: Andromeda, itself a troubled and poorly received sequel, sold over double of what Anthem managed in its opening week.

Anthem's digital sales are likely much higher, but since this data is not shared, it's hard to calculate the actual figures. It's also worth noting that being available as part of Origin Access Premier has contributed to the overall haul, even if these copies weren't "sold" in the traditional sense.