PlayStation 4-exclusive Days Gone has secured the biggest physical sales launch of the year so far in the UK. Impressively for a new intellectual property, Days Gone beat the sales of Capcom's Resident Evil 2 and Ubisoft's Far Cry: New Dawn and The Division 2. However, Days Gone's launch sales come in under those of fellow PS4-exclusives God of War and Spider-Man. Elsewhere, NetherRealm's fighting game entered the UK physical sales chart in second place, while last week's number one, World War Z, drops to number 10. Mortal Kombat 11's physical launch sales are almost half those of 2015's Mortal Kombat X, but it's worth noting download sales are a much bigger piece of the overall sales pie these days (Chart-Track's data does not include download sales, so sales for games on the likes of the PlayStation Store and Steam are not included). More relevant, perhaps, Mortal Kombat 11 launch sales are a tad up on 2017's Injustice 2 - NetherRealm's other fighting game series. Here's this week's top 10:<doc-sep>@Flaming_Kaiser I'm not talking about gameplay. I'm talking about a game mechanic that disrupts gameplay. That's bad design. If you choose to ignore it that's your preference, but it's still objectively bad. To clarify, I'm specifically talking about Bounty Hunter missions... You cannot even start the chase if you're below half a tank of gas. You get a message near the start of it that tells you need gas, and you can't continue. That's terrible. Let me just attempt it with half a tank, how does Deacon know he doesn't have enough gas? Is it the game breaking the fourth wall and baby guarding me from failure? How the hell is there still gas in this world to begin with? Gasoline only lasts around 9 months even in a sealed tank. Are they making gas...and then putting it in gas stations? That's why that mechanic sucks. It doesn't even make sense, and it just impedes progress until you fill up an arbitrary gauge on your bike just because the game says so.<doc-sep>Days Gone has retained its position at the top of the UK sales charts for a second successive week, following a not too dramatic 60 per cent drop in sales week-over-week. Mortal Kombat 11's numbers dipped by a more substantial 74 per cent, so the first-party exclusive remained at the summit of the best sellers list. Elsewhere, the charts are pretty much exactly as you'd expect them to be, with the only notable change seeing Grand Theft Auto V enjoy a significant week-over-week rise, jumping from 11th position to 5th position. The full top ten is included below. UK Sales Charts: Week Ending 4th May, 2019<doc-sep>UK physical video game sales charts are in for the week that ended with 11 May 2019, despite not having a stellar reception. Meanwhile, Anthem has finally dropped out of the top 10 best sellers, almost three months after initial release. Days Gone keeps selling like hotcakes it seems, despite the critics and players not praising the game to high heaven. Granted, reaching the heights of God of War is no easy task but given that the biker & zombie rubbed a considerable amount of people the wrong way, it was possible the game would lose the top spot last week. Just like Days Gone, Mortal Kombat 11 had a fair share of negative criticism but people liked the gameplay enough. Ed Boon's latest entry in the gory series remained at #2 spot it held a week earlier and since NetherRealm Studios are still working on balancing the grind, it's possible MK11 will retain popularity for a while. FIFA 19 came in as third, hinting that the loot box fest still holds appeal to a wide range of football enthusiasts. Spots #4 and #5 both remain in Rockstar's pockets as both Red Dead Redemption 2 and GTA V kept their performance for the week before. It is, however, a worrisome fact for Rockstar that their more didn't manage to dominate the market the way GTA V did. As a reminder, GTA V released in September 2013, making it an almost-six-year-old game and Red Dead Redemption 2's popularity seems to be coming down to a similar level despite not even having its first birthday yet. Mario Kart 8 Deluxe remained in #6 spot in a fairly stagnant ladder since all the games mentioned before also held the same ranks as the week before. Altchar Anthem The Division 2 is the first game to shake it up, coming in on #7 after it overtook New Super Mario Bros. U Deluxe which held the spot a week before and no found itself in #8. Forza Horizon 4 remained as #9 while Super Smash Bros. Ultimate moved one rank up to #10. That last spot in top 10 was previously held by Anthem which got booted to #14, three months after it first became available on 15 February 2019.<doc-sep>
The physical sales for Days Gone show it’s the year’s biggest launch, but it also sold nearly 40% less than the PlayStation 4’s Horizon Zero Dawn. Days Gone is the PlayStation 4’s newest exclusive, and – although it’s the year’s biggest launch title – its physical sales show it sold 38.8% fewer copies than Sony’s other first-party open-world game, Horizon Zero Dawn. Bend Studio’s biggest project to date has been heavily scrutinised for its technical issues and because it doesn’t criticise Deacon’s selfish behaviour. The game’s ending has also been lambasted, with certain outlets arguing that its “twist” ruins all its character development. However, the game’s average to negative review scores hasn’t stopped Days Gone from being the year’s biggest launch. But, although that is mightily impressive considering it’s only on one platform compared to Kingdom Hearts 3 and Resident Evil 2, it has still sold nearly 40% less than Horizon Zero Dawn. Days Gone has sold 38.8% fewer copies than Horizon Zero Dawn Per MCV, Days Gone is April’s best-selling game in the UK, and it is also the nation’s biggest launch. While this is impressive, its physical sales were not on par with Sony’s usual performances; Days Gone sold 38.8% fewer copies than Horizon Zero Dawn did at launch back in 2017. The rise of digital likely means this decline in sales is probably not as bad as depicted, but it’s still somewhat noteworthy as Guerrilla Games’ Horizon Zero Dawn was also an open-world game and a new IP for Sony. Sony has provided a necessary reminder that not everyone hates Days Gone and that the disconnect between gamers and journalists isn’t as big as it seems. Fans of Bend Studio shouldn’t be concerned about the game’s performance and its future as it’s still the year’s biggest launch, and Sony has said they want it to be a franchise.