Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom Regains Top Spot, AEW Wrestles Its Way to No.3 in UK Boxed Charts

The Legend of Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom by Nintendo has reclaimed its position at the top of the UK physical retail charts. Since its release eight weeks ago, the open-world adventure game has achieved six number one spots, briefly relinquishing the top spot to Diablo 4 and Final Fantasy 16. The data is based on GfK physical retail sales. Final Fantasy 16, which held the top spot last week, has fallen to second place after experiencing a 78% decline in sales. However, once digital sales are factored in, the rankings may change, as Nintendo does not provide digital download figures, whereas Square Enix does. According to GSD Data, over 56% of Final Fantasy 16's launch sales were through the PlayStation Network. A deeper analysis of the UK games market's digital performance will be presented in our upcoming monthly reports, scheduled for release next week. The highest new entry this week is AEW: Fight Forever, a wrestling game developed by Yukes, the studio behind the WWE games from 2000 to 2018. Although reviews indicated that the game had some rough edges, it provided a solid foundation for future development. The game's UK boxed sales were 40% lower than WWE 2K23, which was released in March. This is not surprising, given the strong brand recognition of WWE, and it marks a decent start for AEW: Fight Forever. Another new entry, Story of Seasons: A Wonderful Life, debuts at No.7. This is a remake of the beloved Harvest Moon game from 2003, initially released on the Nintendo GameCube. The remake performed best on the Nintendo Switch, accounting for 89% of sales, with 9% on PS5 and 2% on Xbox consoles. Note that digital data is not available for this title. Master Detective Archives: Rain Code for Nintendo Switch is the final new game in the charts, reaching No.23. Elsewhere, Sonic Origins Plus has dropped to No.10 in its second week, with boxed sales decreasing by only 34%. Crash Team Rumble, which debuted at No.15 last week, has fallen to No.32 after a 53% decline in sales. Here is the GfK UK Boxed Top Ten for the week ending July 1, 2023: