God of War Ragnarok is already the biggest launch in the franchise’s history | UK Time Tunnel

God of War Ragnarok has got off to a massive start in the UK, according to charts firm GfK.

It is on-course to be the fourth game in the series to top the UK boxed charts, the firm has said.

There have previously been 12 God of War games released in the UK, including six main releases, two portable games and a series of collections and remakes.

The first game was released in July 2005 on PS2 and debuted at No.5 – one of just two times that a main God of War title didn’t debut at No.1. The second game in the series, released two years later in May 2007 (also on PS2 and after the PS3 was released) reached No.1. The franchise moved to PS3 for God of War 3 in Mach 2010, and also topped the charts once again.

The fourth mainline title, God of War Ascension, arrived three years later but was held off No.1 by the Tomb Raider reboot from Crystal Dynamics.

But the series really stepped up with 2018’s God of War reboot on PlayStation 4.

“It became the best-seller at that time in terms of week one sales and also lifetime sales for this franchise,” GfK boss Dorian Bloch told GamesIndustry.biz. “In 2018, God of War ranked at No.5 by units and revenue on Sony formats.”

The only PS4 games bigger than God of War that year was FIFA 19, Red Dead Redemption 2, Call of Duty: Black Ops 4 and Marvel’s Spider-Man.

Now we are at the launch of God of War Ragnarok, and based on boxed sales alone, it will become the biggest God of War title launch in the UK.

“God of War Ragnarok will debut at No.1 and is the first cross-gen title in the series,” Bloch says. “Day 1 physical sales were already greater than any other full-week launch sales for other titles in this franchise.”

Bloch adds that 55% of PS5 console sales this week are part of the God of War hardware bundle.

God of War UK Chart History