Hitman 3 surpasses its predecessor and claims number 1 | UK Boxed Charts

Hitman 3 is # 1 on the UK boxed charts, with launch sales up 17% over its predecessor.

Hitman 3’s boxed release, developed and owned by IO Interactive, was handled by Square Enix, the company that previously owned the franchise before its release. The latest game, 2018’s Hitman 2, was published by Warner Bros.

The PS5 version of the game was by far the dominant edition, accounting for 49% of sales. The Xbox version accounted for 27%, while the PS4 version accounted for 25%. These are of course just physical games, most of the Hitman 3 sales will have been in the digital download space.

Hitman’s debut on the charts means Animal Crossing: New Horizons drops to No. 2, although only 800 games separate the two titles. Animal Crossing sales were down 8% week over week.

Last week some new PS5 consoles hit the market, which had a positive effect on a number of titles. Spider-Man: Miles Morales is up 161% and jumps from No. 12 to No. 5, Demon’s Souls re-enters the charts at No. 27 with a 291% increase in sales, and there were sales bumps for Call of Duty: Black Ops Cold War (56% higher and powered by the PlayStation version) and Assassin’s Creed Valhalla (7% higher, but with the PS5 version 174%). In total, sales of PS5 games were up 324% week-on-week.

Another big climber was Ring Fit Adventure. The Nintendo Switch fitness game has often hit the charts during the pandemic when new stocks hit the market. The game climbs to number 7 with a 47% revenue increase.

Here’s the GfK Top Ten for the week ending January 23: