During launch weekend, Marvel’s Spider-Man 2 topped the chart in the UK as the top-selling game in terms of physical copies. However, Super Mario Bros. Wonder bounced back last week (ending October 28) to top the chart. Both games were released on October 20, 2023. While Spider-Man 2 is a PS5 exclusive, Super Mario Bros. Wonder is a Switch exclusive.
The news was first reported by GamesIndustry.biz, citing GfK’s report. Although Super Mario Bros. Wonder topped the chart, it still experienced a 55% drop in sales week-on-week. However, the previous week’s chart-topper experienced a 69% drop in sales pushing it to the second position.
The week in review also saw two interesting entries in the top ten spot. The recently launched Metal Gear Solid: Master Collection Vol 1 was the fourth best-selling boxed game while the sports sim EA Sports UFC 5 was the 7th best-selling boxed game. The rest of the list was largely unchanged.
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EA Sports FC 24 maintained the third position on the chart while Assassin’s Creed Mirage completed the top 5 games on the chart. At the bottom of the list, Nintendo Switch Sports moved one step higher, pushing down the previous week’s number 9—Minecraft for Nintendo Switch—to the 10th position.
Both Spider-Man 2 and Super Mario Bros. Wonder remain the biggest boxed game launches of 2023, placing fourth and fifth respectively. The GfK chart only records physical sales. Digital sales could be higher because more gamers favor digital purchases of games over physical copies.
The actual sales number of both games could be higher if digital sales are added to the tally. According to the Entertainment Retail Association (ERA), 89.5% of game purchases in 2022 were digital downloads. Therefore, the chart doesn’t correctly represent actual total game sales.
Both Spider-Man 2 and Super Mario Bros. Wonder are fastest-selling games
Last week, Nintendo put out a tweet announcing that Super Mario Bros. Wonder has become the fastest-selling Super Mario game in Europe ever. The company quickly deleted the first tweet but was later republished. That brief vacuum led to confusion with many wondering if the tweet had been put out in error.
However, when Nintendo of Europe republished the tweet, they explained that the initial tweet was taken down to correct an error in the rating on the attached image.
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“Wowie zowie! In the first three days on sale, #SuperMarioBrosWonder has become the fastest-selling Super Mario game ever in Europe,” the tweet read without revealing the number of copies of the game that have been sold.
PlayStation also put out a tweet last week to announce that Marvel’s Spider-Man 2 has become the company’s fastest-selling franchise in history. However, unlike Super Mario Bros. Wonder, PlayStation revealed the number of copies that were sold. According to the company, the game sold 2.5 million copies in the first 24 hours.
“Great news, Spidey fans,” the tweet read, “Marvel’s Spider-Man 2 has sold more than 2.5 million copies in the first 24 hours. Thanks for making this a high-flying launch!”
The last game that was declared PlayStation’s fastest-selling game was God of War: Ragnarök. Sony said the game sold 5.1 million copies in its debut week. However, the company did not reveal how many copies were sold in the first 24 hours as they did with Spider-Man 2.
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While we continued to wait for the nominee list for The Games Award, Marvel’s Spider-Man 2 and Super Mario Bros. Wonder are two titles that we can almost bet would make the list. There is a likelihood that both games would have performed even better (in sales) if they were not released in the same month.
Have you played Marvel’s Spider-Man 2 and Super Mario Bros. Wonder? What are your impressions of both games? Feel free to share your thoughts in the comment box below.
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