UK Charts: Two Forza games in Top Three as FIFA retains No.1

Microsoft's Forza series takes No.2 and No.3 in the UK charts this week.

Forza Motorsport 7's first week on sale is weaker than the series has posted in recent years, which would typically be a cause for concern if it wasn't for the fact it is having to fight off fierce competition from its own sister title.

Forza Horizon 3 is bundled with Xbox One S at the moment, and the hardware combo is doing good business for Xbox - which is why the game is at No.3 more than a year since it came out.

Overall, it is a competitive Christmas for the racing genre, with the recent release of Project Cars 2 and F1 2017. There's more to come, too, with Gran Turismo Sport and Need for Speed Payback set to arrive over the coming weeks. It will be interesting to see if Horizon 3 maintains its strong presence when these games come to market.

No.1 this week is FIFA 18 once again, and the game has had a stronger second week this year than it did in 2016. One of the reasons for this is because FIFA 17 came out on a Tuesday, so this is actually its first full week on sale. Another reason is that Mafia III launched at this point last year, which would have taken some attention away from EA's sports game. FIFA 18 sales are down 69% week-on-week.

We're officially in the Q4 sales period, although it's not got off to the strongest start. There has been a handful of new releases (in addition to Forza Motorsport 7), with many of them aimed at the broader, younger market - so sales of these may well pick up as we approach Christmas (games aimed at a more mainstream audience tend to have a longer sales tail than the big blockbusters).

At no.7 there's The LEGO Ninjago Movie Videogame, which arrives in time for the new movie. At No.19 we have the remake of Mario and Luigi: Superstar Saga + Bowser's Minions for 3DS (continuing a constant stream of Mario games that have been released this year). At No.31 there's the Professor Layton spin-off Layton's Mystery Journey (also for 3DS), while the more adult Dragon Dogma: Dark Arisen HD debuts at No.39.

In fact, the market is looking considerably kid-friendly - outside of GTA V and Destiny 2, the Top Ten is made up of games suitable for younger players.