Shadow of the Tomb Raider is now out in the wild and based off the first weeks physical sales it may have been hidden too deep in a tomb for some to find here in the UK. To put this in a bit of perspective, Shadow’s first week sales are down 70% from the 2013 reboot. However you slice it that is a shocking sales decline.
Similarly disturbing is that the first week sales are only slightly higher than Rise of the Tomb Raider’s first week sales and that launched on Xbox One only back in 2015. This however to me is partially the reason for the decline. I was very vocal when it was announced that ROTTR would be a timed exclusive on Xbox. How anyone thought it was acceptable to release a sequel to a beloved multiplatform game on only one console is beyond me.
Whatever money Crystal Dynamics got for that twelve months exclusivity was not worth it and it has probably taken until this very week for that knowledge to really become clear. At the time they probably thought it was best to take the Microsoft money and be able to have two console launches, but instead they slighted Playstation gamers and it showed in the sales.
Now you have a situation where the console with by far the most substantial install base doesn’t feel engaged with the franchise. This is supposed to be the final instalment of Lara’s origin trilogy and mistakes of the past appear to have done serious damage to the series and it’s viability going forward. It’s a real shame as well, because I am roughly five hours in at the moment and it is another brilliant Lara adventure.
The breakdown of the UK Top 10 Sales Chart is as follows;
1. Spider-Man
2. Shadow of the Tomb Raider
3. NBA 2K19
4. Crash Bandicoot N. Sane Trilogy
5. Mario Kart 8 Deluxe
6. Grand Theft Auto 5
7. F1 2018
8. The Elder Scrolls Online
9. LEGO: The Incredibles
10. Super Mario Odyssey
Yep, somehow GTA: V is still there. Somehow. Somewhere. Someone hasn’t bought it on every device yet.
VdZe.
