Tom Clancy's The Division claims #1 in the UK

Ubisoft claimed the number one spot in the UK last week with Tom Clancy's The Division, lending credence to the publisher's claims that the new IP broke its 24-hour sales records.

At present, it's not clear exactly how many units The Division sold on its first day. Ubisoft revealed only that its retail and digital records had been broken, but no hard figures were offered. When the game's open beta ended in February, 6.4 million unique players had taken part.

If the beta numbers are any indication of The Division's performance, it could scarcely have arrived at a better time for Ubisoft. Assassin's Creed has been the company's most important IP in terms of sales for almost a decade, but the most recent game in the series, Assassin's Creed: Syndicate, did not reach the levels achieved by its predecessors. Ubisoft CEO Yves Guillemot has confirmed that it is no longer an annual franchise.

"The goal is not to automatically come back to an annual cycle, but to come back on a regular basis," Guillemot said in a meeting with investors last month. "We can't say every year."

The Division is also at the summit of Steam's Top Sellers chart. Steam Spy's data, while not completely accurate, puts its total players above 420,000.