UK Charts: King Kong claims the top spot
Having laid claim to the official Christmas number one for the third consecutive year, industry powerhouse Electronic Arts has been unceremoniously shoved back into second place by Ubisoft's King Kong license.
Having laid claim to the official Christmas number one for the third consecutive year, industry powerhouse Electronic Arts has been unceremoniously shoved back into second place by Ubisoft's King Kong license.
Achieving a significant 52 per cent boost in sales, Peter Jackson's King Kong: The Official Game of the Movie has taken first place in the all-formats sales chart, forcing Need for Speed: Most Wanted into second.
Ubisoft were beaten to the coveted Christmas number one spot by EA's street racing franchise, which also secured EA the Christmas number one in 2004 with Need For Speed Underground 2. As Christmas fell on a Sunday in 2005, the 64 per cent sales increase for King Kong placed the movie tie-in in first place just 24 hours later.
The French publisher has also achieved noticeable success in the week following Christmas with Prince of Persia 3: The Two Thrones, which has enjoyed a 62 per cent sales increase and climbed six places to number ten.
However, substantial price cuts instigated by a number of major publishers to stimulate sales in what has been an unusually poor retail period for the industry could have a serious impact on Q4 revenue figures, as a number of new releases - including PoP 3 - can be purchased for less than half of the standard videogame price point.
The higher end of the charts show positive sales for Activision, as True Crime: Streets of New York climbs two places to number seven, whilst Western adventure Gun jumps four places, re-entering the top ten at number nine. Call of Duty: Big Red One continues to sell well for the firm, despite dropping one place to number four - replaced by EA's FIFA '06, which climbs one place following renewed sales.
Elsewhere, Wi-Fi champion Mario Kart DS holds its position at the top of the Nintendo DS charts, while the Xbox chart continues to fluctuate; filled with multi-format releases and noticeably lacking in platform exclusives, which will now begin appearing on the recently launched next-generation Xbox 360 console.
With so few titles confirmed for release in the initial few weeks of the new year, publishers will be relying on post-Christmas sales to boost the chart position of their latest titles, though drastically reduced retail pricing will undoubtedly begin to take its toll as final quarter revenues are calculated.