A NeoGAF mod recently put together a comparison between sales in the UK for 2013 versus those of 2012. This comparison has provided some more information on the trends for certain franchises, such as Call of Duty and Assassin’s Creed.

The important thing to note is that Grand Theft Auto V was the top selling title of 2013, shipping 3,670,234 units. FIFA 14 followed it with 2,656,763 units, which is only a little bit more than FIFA 13’s numbers which were 2,601,877 units. Meanwhile, Call of Duty: Ghosts managed to sell 1,991,994 units which is a big drop from that of Black Ops II, which shipped 2,672,364 units. It did far better than Battlefield 4 though which only sold 838,869 units.

Assassin’s Creed IV: Black Flag, on the other hand, managed to match up to Assassin’s Creed III. It sold 776,888 units compared to the latter’s 886,198 units. Not an enormous drop and with the good will the fourth game has, sales should be up when ACV eventually hits.

FIFA 14, the upcoming installment in the FIFA series will see a release across just about every platform still remotely relevant in gaming today.

However, the word from EA is now that for the 3DS, PS Vita, Wii, and PlayStation 2 versions of the game, FIFA 14 Legacy Edition, aside from new kits and update rosters, essentially every element of the game will be the same as FIFA 13. In spite of this, each version will be sold at full price in the UK.

This seems to be a trend with EA. Last year PS Vita version of FIFA 13 received wide complaints of its lack of differentiation from its predecessor, FIFA Football. The gameplay was more or less a carbon copy of that of FIFA 11. Similarly, the Wii version of FIFA 13 was essentially a re release of FIFA 12, with the addition of a new roster and some kit changes.

The release date for FIFA 14 on all non-next generation consoles is today.

FIFA secretary general Jérôme Valcke stated that, “Our relationship with EA SPORTS is of high importance to FIFA. The FIFA videogames are a key experiential component in our work to communicate the FIFA brand and its values all over the world.

“This is highlighted by the 2.5 million football fans that have competed in this year’s FIFA Interactive World Cup, which is just one example of the power of our partnership with EA.””

EA Sports head Andrew Wilson also stated that, “EA Sports released the first FIFA-branded soccer game in 1993, and 20 years later our partnership with FIFA continues to be very strong.

“Our franchise has become the benchmark for quality and innovation in the sports videogame genre, and we look forward to many more years of connecting with consumers around the world with our games carrying the prestigious FIFA name.”

The publisher revealed that since its launch in September, FIFA 13 has sold over 14.5 million units, with year-to-year sales of the franchise having increased by 30 percent. Total revenue netted from digital avenues for the game was revealed to be up by 94 percent from the previous year, totaling $200 million.

Origin, EA’s digital content platform, also has more than 47 million registered users with 20 million of those users being on mobile.

Executive chairman and interim CEO Larry Probst stated that, “As we enter a new fiscal year, EA is well-positioned for dynamic growth on next generation consoles, PCs, and mobile platforms. With world-class games, a rapidly growing digital business, and top-notch creative talent, we are excited about EA’s strategy for fiscal year 2014 and beyond.”

CFO Blake Jorgensen also stated that, “EA has a solid operating plan with disciplined R&D spending and a sharp focus on delivering the best games and services. We are holding our fiscal year 2014 operating expenses flat to the prior year – a significant achievement in a console transition year.”

Information provided by the Entertainment Retailers Association states that Black Ops 2 sold 2.67 million units last year, with FIFA 13 selling 2.6 million. Remember, this was within the final quarter of the year. Compare that to, say, The Dark Knight Rises which sold 1.7 million.

The other major game to figure in the ERA’s top 20 was Assassin’s Creed 3 with 886,000 units at number 13 – along with the above two, it is one of 7 games of the overall 40 properties.

In one of the more hilarious comments though, Kim Bayley stated that “the quality of releases was at least partly to blame” when combined sales of the top 40 were down by 25 percent year-on-year.

Source: GIBiz

EA Sports has released the sales figures for FIFA 13, and it turns out the football sim is actually selling very well.

FIFA 13, since it’s release in September, has gone on to sold a total of 12 million units, last counted in December. That means there were 12 million units of FIFA 13 sold in the third quarter of Financial Year 2012-13.

Not just that, FIFA 13 has beat FIFA 12’s sales in the same amount of time last year when the latter came out by 23 per cent, which is a pretty significant number.

$100 million revenue was generated, thanks to FIFA 13, which is more than 98 per cent of what was generated last year.

In our review of FIFA 13, we gave it a 8.5/10, saying that it was “another worthy installment” in the long running series.

Stay tuned for more info.

Thanks, CVG!

Here’s where it gets scary: Speaking to CVG, Gfk states FIFA has earned that much from 40 different games, but doesn’t include the Ultimate Team market. Now keep in mind that the last two games – FIFA 12 and FIFA 13 – contributed more than £200 million to the pot.

But the scariest part? The data is only relevant for games released after 1996. And everyone knows we’ve had FIFA games since before that.

Call of Duty isn’t far behind, netting £800 million from 19 games. Despite having a hand in every pie and being one of the most recognizable icons in all of gaming, Mario sadly comes in third place.

Who wants to bet on EA seizing the initiative and offering two versions of FIFA 14 at launch?

Source: GIBiz

The 10 highest selling retail titles for the PS3 in UK during all of 2012 have been revealed by GfK Chart-Track, and surprisingly, Call of Duty: Black Ops 2 has not topped the top 10.

FIFA 13 was the highest selling PS3 game in UK in 2012, followed by Call of Duty: Black Ops 2 on No. 2, and Assassin’s Creed 3 following close behind at the third position.

The FIFA franchise overall did very well, with three titles appearing in the top 10. One was, of course, FIFA 13. FIFA 12 also performed strongly, sitting at the 7th position while FIFA Street was the 8th highest selling title on the list.

Have a look at the complete top 10 below:

1. FIFA 13 – EA

2. Call of Duty: Black Ops II – Activision

3. Assassin’s Creed III – Ubisoft

4. Hitman Absolution – Square Enix

5. Need for Speed: Most Wanted – EA

6. Far Cry 3 – Ubisoft

7. FIFA 12 – EA

8. FIFA Street – EA

9. Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 3 – Activision

10. Resident Evil 6 – Capcom

[MCV]

Admittedly, the UK is a football struck country but FIFA 13? On top again? Didn’t the game come out all the way back in September end, and dominated most weeks at the top of the sales charts? It’s been looking doubtful whether it would even be falling out of the top 5 any time soon.

While FIFA 13 stays in the number 1 position, other titles like Far Cry 3 and Call of Duty: Black Ops 2 still remain at numbers 2 and 3 respectively. This is followed by Hitman: Absolution and Need for Speed: Most Wanted in new chart data compiled by UKIE and GfK Chart-Track..

In fact the only real new entry this week – that too, all the way down at number 16 – is Platinum Games’ Anarchy Reigns. Mixed critical reaction might be a cause for that, but given Platinum Games’ way of staying niche, it’s not too surprising.

Let’s see if that changes with Metal Gear Rising: Revengeance.

Source: GIBiz

The update also improves the general game stability and can be termed as something that aims to fix minor things instead of major problems.

The game came out in October and went on to ship 10 million copies. The launch was eventful with servers crashing for a few days but that’s expected since so many people play the game.  The career mode usually has received a lot of stability fixes and some random glitches have been fixed as well.

We reviewed the game and liked it a lot, it’s not a major improvement over FIFA 12 but good nonetheless. “What we have is a football game that delivers what fans want, and has enough content and improvements which is vital to be considered as a progressive installment,” wrote our author.

Here’s the patch notes in full:

• Online Connectivity in the Arena when loading an Online Seasons match.
• The rare occurrence of the ball becoming invisible during gameplay.
• Audio commentary of player names when the game is set to Brazilian, Czech, Hungarian, Italian, or Polish.
• Connectivity after selecting a position on Online Team Play and Clubs.
• Pass responsiveness in the Passing ‘Skill Challenge’ Skill Game. The leaderboard for this specific Skill Game will be reset due to a scoring glitch.
• Rare cases of physics elasticity when two players collide.
• In Ligo Do Brasil, Vasco Da Gama and Palmeiras get authentic kits and team names.
• Authentic kits for Botafago in Ligo Do Brasil.
• Visibility of the radar, indicators, and scoreboards in offline matches after playing in Online Team Play.
• Stability of FIFA Ultimate Team during single player tournaments.
• A softlock when playing a friend in FUT.
• A softlock when repeatedly purchasing FIFA Points.
• Crashing in the Pro Clubs kit selection screen.
• Issues with form display in the EA SPORTS Football Club Match Day update.
• Functionality when bidding on items from the Watch List.
• Undefined text on created players list after downloading squad updates.
• The accurate crest is not shown on the Adidas All Star kit during a Club match.
• Created player files misrepresented after downloading squad updates.
• Uploaded replays overwriting other user media when sent to web profile.
• FIFA Ultimate Team items showing overall stats of player instead of stats for current owner.

• Career Mode items including: 

– Stability when editing a Virtual Pro if the squad is full.
– Stability when the loaning team rejects the loan purchase of a transferred player at the end of a season.
– Player contracts increased by 1 did not take effect in player’s profile.
– Penalty Kick Takers selected prior to a penalty shootout when playing as a Manager.
– Continuation of player stories after the player is transferred/sold.
– Stability of storyline system before a big match.
– Stability after purchasing players in Career Mode.
– Stability when a team selling a player rejects the transfer offer.
– General stability during gameplay.