Skyward Sword has been on store shelves for several weeks now and sales numbers for the first few weeks are starting to come in. Unfortunately, it’s not all that great for sales numbers in the United Kingdom. In the week ending December 3rd, Skyward Sword pushed out 18,516 copies in the UK alone, giving it a total of 88,955. More important than those numbers is that Skyward Sword finished in 26th place for top game sales during this week alone. Games such as Football Manager 2012, Forza Motorsport 4, and Moshi Monsters: Moshling Zoo, all of which have been on store shelves longer than Skyward Sword all outsold the latest Zelda game. Heck, Skyward Sword wasn’t even close to being the highest selling Nintendo Wii game in the UK this week as it was outsold by Just Dance 3, Mario & Sonic at the London 2012 Olympic Games, Michael Jackson: The Experience, Mario Kart Wii, and Zumba Fitness.
I really cannot pinpoint what the issue is here. It was outsold by core first person shooter titles, by casual Nintendo titles, dancing video games, football (soccer) games, and even games that I’ve never even heard of. The UK’s largest general gaming magazine, EDGE Magazine, gave it one of its extremely rare perfect 10 of 10 scores as well, but that didn’t seem to have an effect on sales at all. Perhaps it’s the pure distaste for the MotionPlus controls? It really just doesn’t make sense to me. Thus far Skyward Sword has sold fairly well in Japan, the United States, and select parts of Europe, but just not in the UK. You can see the UK sales charts below.
Why do you think the game hasn’t been selling well in the UK? Am I overlooking the statistics and missing a key point? Feel free to voice your own thoughts in the comments below.
UK Weekly Chart
Week Ending 03rd Dec 2011
| Pos |
Game |
Week |
Weekly |
Total |
| 1 |
|
4 |
89,326 |
1,471,154 |
| 2 |
|
8 |
72,786 |
341,025 |
| 3 |
|
4 |
66,858 |
1,006,752 |
| 4 |
|
2 |
57,123 |
112,630 |
| 5 |
|
1 |
54,093 |
54,093 |
| 6 |
|
3 |
48,120 |
131,853 |
| 7 |
|
3 |
47,467 |
231,535 |
| 8 |
|
10 |
44,631 |
851,411 |
| 9 |
|
4 |
43,326 |
388,283 |
| 10 |
|
3 |
40,616 |
81,441 |
| 11 |
|
3 |
38,837 |
173,124 |
| 12 |
|
3 |
36,462 |
173,103 |
| 13 |
|
4 |
34,446 |
110,899 |
| 14 |
|
10 |
32,353 |
728,063 |
| 15 |
|
5 |
28,522 |
236,153 |
| 16 |
|
8 |
25,567 |
288,699 |
| 17 |
|
56 |
25,256 |
N/A |
| 18 |
|
6 |
24,178 |
435,906 |
| 19 |
|
54 |
22,942 |
N/A |
| 20 |
|
6 |
22,860 |
306,414 |
| 21 |
|
191 |
21,672 |
N/A |
| 22 |
|
4 |
21,252 |
171,284 |
| 23 |
|
7 |
20,592 |
189,731 |
| 24 |
|
36 |
20,346 |
N/A |
| 25 |
|
3 |
18,877 |
74,723 |
| 26 |
|
3 |
18,516 |
88,955 |
| 27 |
|
56 |
17,894 |
N/A |
| 28 |
|
3 |
17,800 |
90,585 |
| 29 |
|
2 |
17,422 |
49,959 |
| 30 |
|
3 |
16,653 |
51,758 |
| 31 |
|
7 |
15,719 |
236,943 |
| 32 |
|
3 |
15,216 |
45,034 |
| 33 |
|
7 |
15,096 |
195,611 |
| 34 |
|
|
Rage (X360)
Bethesda Softworks, FPS |
|
9 |
15,090 |
116,878 |
| 35 |
|
2 |
14,962 |
18,695 |
| 36 |
|
2 |
12,832 |
39,957 |
| 37 |
|
8 |
12,777 |
59,553 |
| 38 |
|
2 |
11,686 |
16,400 |
| 39 |
|
56 |
11,583 |
N/A |
| 40 |
|
6 |
10,832 |
63,013 |
Source: VGChartz
~~~Recent Content Updates~~~
Skyward Sword has been on store shelves for several weeks now and sales numbers for the first few weeks are starting to come in. Unfortunately, it’s not all that great for sales numbers in the United Kingdom. In the week ending December 3rd, Skyward Sword pushed out 18,516 copies in the UK alone, giving it a total of 88,955. More important than those numbers is that Skyward Sword finished in 26th place for top game sales during this week alone. Games such as Football Manager 2012, Forza Motorsport 4, and Moshi Monsters: Moshling Zoo, all of which have been on store shelves longer than Skyward Sword all outsold the latest Zelda game. Heck, Skyward Sword wasn’t even close to being the highest selling Nintendo Wii game in the UK this week as it was outsold by Just Dance 3, Mario & Sonic at the London 2012 Olympic Games, Michael Jackson: The Experience, Mario Kart Wii, and Zumba Fitness.
