Marvel's Avengers defeats Tony Hawk and NBA to claim No.1 | UK Charts

It's an all-new Top Three in the UK physical retail charts this week, led by Square Enix's ambitious new Avengers game at No.1.

The Marvel title is developed by Tomb Raider studio Crystal Dynamics, and compared with the last game in the Tomb Raider series (September 2018's Shadow of the Tomb Raider, which only had partial involvement from Crystal Dynamics), this new game sold almost exactly the same number of physical copies at launch. In fact, Avengers sold 2% more boxed copies than the last Lara Croft game did during its first week.

Compared with the last big Marvel video game, Spider-Man on PS4 (which also launched in September 2018), the numbers are radically different. Avengers sold less than a third than what Spider-Man managed to do in the UK during its debut week (physical sales only).

This Avengers title features a large online multiplayer component, and therefore it's quite a different game to the single-player Spider-Man and Tomb Raider adventures. It also arrives at the end of a console generation and at the start of a new one, and is intended to be a service-based title. Therefore, its success won't be decided in its first week, and will depend on how the game evolves from here and whether Crystal Dynamics can keep engaging (and monetising) a large audience over months and years.

Coming in at No.2 is Activision's latest bid to monetise its back catalogue: Tony Hawk's Pro Skater 1 + 2. The remastered game has reviewed really well, especially compared to the last game in the series: 2015's Tony Hawk's Pro Skater 5. As a result, this new game's first week boxed sales are a whopping 448% higher than its disappointing predecessor. There's clearly some life in the skating franchise yet.

Rounding off the all-new Top Three is NBA 2K21. The game hasn't got off to the best start in physical sales, with week one sales down 37% compared with NBA 2K20. Of course, it must be noted that digital sales are not included in these charts.

There is not a lot else new to speak about. Animal Crossing: New Horizons drops to No.4 to make way for the new releases. Meanwhile, price activity on The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt Game of the Year Edition sees the CD Projekt RPG return to the charts at No.11, with sales up 237%.

Overall, video game boxed sales in the UK are up 37% this week compared with the week before.

Here is the GfK Top Ten for the week ending September 5th