Video games were the first and second highest-grossing retail releases last year, beating out both The Dark Knight Rises and Emeli Sandé.
Call Of Duty: Black Ops II was not just the best-selling video game of 2012 in the UK, it was the best-selling entertainment media of any kind. According to new figures provided by the Entertainment Retailers Association (ERA) video games easily outsold both the top-grossing DVD and music album of last year.
It’s generally considered not fair to compare games with other media because they’re much more expensive, but just for once the unit sales figures for the top 40 have been revealed – and video games still won out.
ERA has revealed that Black Ops II sold 2.67 million copies last year and FIFA 2.60 million. The Dark Knight Rises though only sold 1.70 million DVDs and Blu-ray. However, none of these figures include cinema attendances, so it’s likely that The Dark Knight did win out overall.
The two gaming giants also out-grossed Emeli Sandé’s Our Version of Events, which sold 1.44 million copies at retail last year to become the biggest album of 2012. Although again digital sales would’ve added to that total.
But despite topping the chart below video games only accounted for a total of seven entries in the top 40, compared to 23 for DVD and Blu-ray, and 10 for music.
The list of the top 100 best-selling video games of 2012 was revealed earlier in the year and although Assassin’s Creed III was number three, after FIFA 13, it appears only at number 13 in the entertainment chart, with 0.89 million sales.
The only other games are Halo 4 (0.75 million) at number 21, Hitman Absolution (0.58 million) at number 36, Just Dance 4 (0.56 million) at number 37, and Far Cry 3 (0.54 million) at number 40.
As far as the ERA are concerned it was a poor year overall for the entertainment industry, with overall sales down by 25 per cent on the previous year. It wasn’t just the economy though, as DVD and music retail sales continue to lose ground to digital downloads.
That’s not such a factor with games, in terms of the sort of titles in this top 40, but the rise of smartphones and tablets has certainly had an increasing impact on overall sales.
But there was also a clear malaise last year in game sales, not just in the UK but worldwide. This is relatively normal for the end of a generation of consoles, and it’s hoped that the release of the Xbox and PlayStation this Christmas will reverse the trend.
UK Entertainment Chart 2012 (unit sales)
1. Call Of Duty: Black Ops II – 2,672,364
2. FIFA 13 – 2,601,877
3. The Dark Knight Rises – 1,694,434
4. The Twilight Saga: Breaking Dawn – Part 1 – 1,515,604
5. Our Version of Events (Emeli Sande) – 1,446,844
6. Now That’s What I Call Music 83 (Various) – 1,389,006
7. Avengers Assemble – 1,349,937
8. Ted – 1,188,295
9. War Horse – 986,870
10. The Hunger Games – 946,592
11. Mrs Brown’s Boys: Series One – 913,145
12. The Best Exotic Marigold Hotel – 888,629
13. Assassin’s Creed III – 886,198
14. Now That’s What I Call Music 82 (Various) – 866,031
15. Prometheus – 853,079
16. Ice Age 4: Continental Drift – 819,009
17. 21 (Adele) – 816,317
18. Sherlock Holmes: A Game of Shadows – 816,126
19. + (Ed Sheeran) – 811,038
20. Now That’s What I Call Music 81 (Various) – 756,035
21. Halo 4 – 753,489
22. Born To Die (Lana del Rey) – 743,210
23. Brave – 743,021
24. Bridesmaids – 710,185
25. Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy – 707,875
26. Johnny English Reborn – 694,651
27. Mrs Brown’s Boys: Series Two – 670,956
28. The Amazing Spider-Man – 656,620
29. The Woman In Black – 654,589
30. Take Me Home (One Direction) – 643,433
31. Right Place Right Time (Olly Murs) – 597,370
32. The Adventures of Tintin: The Secret of the Unicorn – 597,282
33. Babel (Mumford & Sons) – 592,173
34. Mrs Brown’s Live Tour: Good Mourning – 585,925
35. Michael McIntyre: Showtime – 579,011
36. Hitman Absolution – 571,248
37. Just Dance 4 – 562,453
38. Despicable Me – 549,111
39. Mission: Impossible – Ghost Protocol – 545,502
40. Far Cry 3 – 540,237
Source Article from http://metro.co.uk/2013/03/12/black-ops-ii-and-fifa-13-outsold-music-and-dvds-in-2012-3538417/