Uncharted: Legacy of Thieves Collection (on PC)

When the remastered duo launched for PS5 in January, it debuted in fifth place on Gfk’s UK physical sales charts. Pretty good, even if it didn’t hit the top 20 for The NPD Group’s best-selling games for the month. Its PC version is a completely different story, though, hitting a peak concurrent player count of only 10,851 on Steam when it was released in October. Either because there wasn’t much hype around it, or other big titles took all the attention, the collection just didn’t resonate.

CrossfireX

With a whopping 38 out of 100 Metascore and lacklustre marketing, it was somewhat expected that CrossfireX wouldn’t do great. Lo and behold, it didn’t chart anywhere in The NPD Group’s February 2022 sales rankings, nor did it warrant a mention in Gfk’s physical charts for the UK. However, given how popular Crossfire’s multiplayer is in China and South Korea (with over $1 billion in revenue each year since 2014), this won’t hurt Smilegate’s bottom line one bit.

Monark

You could call Monark another victim of Elden Ring’s overwhelming presence, especially in Europe, where it launched on the same day as the Souls-like. That’s probably why it wasn’t mentioned anywhere in Gfk’s physical sales charts for the week. It also had only 177 peak concurrent players on Steam in the West. Then again, when released last year in Japan, it barely hit 16,000 units sold on PS4 and Nintendo Switch. Couple that with poor critical reception, and its failure is understandable.

Ghostwire: Tokyo

Tango Gameworks’ Ghostwire Tokyo was one of the premiere PS5 console exclusives this year and sadly didn’t perform up to par. It debuted in 12th place for The NPD Group’s March 2022 charts, and in 11thth place for Gfk’s UK physical game charts. Not only that, but it sold 80 percent less than The Evil Within 2 in the UK, which was considered to have performed poorly at launch. Though it managed sixth place in its debut in Japan, it only sold 10,144 units in its first week. Even the Steam numbers were nothing to write home about, with a peak concurrent total of 14,086 players in its lifetime.

Shadow Warrior 3

Shadow Warrior 3 was intriguing in how it not only went with a super-linear approach to its levels but also stuck to previous-gen consoles and PC. Blame it on the lack of marketing buzz, the shadows of Elden Ring and Horizon Forbidden West, or something else, but when released on March 1st, 2022, it was nowhere to be seen in Gfk’s UK physical sales charts or GSD’s digital sales charts. Even the peak concurrent player count on Steam was a mere 1,651 players.

GRID Legends

Another game which likely suffered due to releasing too close to Elden Ring and Horizon Forbidden West is Codemasters’ GRID Legends. It debuted in 18th place in Gfk’s UK physical sales charts and was pretty much never heard from again after that. Yes, not even in The NPD Group’s best-selling titles for February and March 2022. SteamDB reveals a peak concurrent player count of just 455, which is just a few days after it launched.

Roller Champions

Roller Champions’ success is a bit harder to measure since, well, it’s a free-to-play title. That being said, its digital revenue hasn’t warranted any mention this year. It launched to very little reaction on PC, Xbox One, and PS4, and the Switch release did nothing to help this either. Lest anyone thinks the recent Steam release would aid in a resurgence, it has had a peak concurrent player total of 141. Such was the response that reports quickly circulated of the game being sunset, which Ubisoft denied.

Marvel’s Midnight Suns

One of the big three releases of December, Marvel’s Midnight Suns has a lot going for it with the XCOM team involved, strong critical acclaim, and some well-known Marvel heroes. It even had 15,500 peak concurrent players on Steam. Sales-wise, the story is less positive, as it debuted in a mortifying 26th place in the UK physical sales charts. Granted, Firaxis is known more for its PC player base (as seen with the Steam user count), and the digital sales could help, but the Xbox Series X/S and PS5 numbers can’t be entirely discounted. Maybe it was just the victim of too many big releases on the same day, as evidenced by The Callisto Protocol performing way better.

Need for Speed Unbound

Due to its release timing, we won’t know how Need for Speed Unbound performed in the US until next month. As for the UK, its launch week physical sales were down a staggering 64 percent compared to Need for Speed Heat, earning it only 17th place. This may seem expected, but it’s the tenth-biggest IP in the region’s history. Things hardly improved the next week when it slipped to 19th place following a 19 percent sales drop. Steam player numbers aren’t so great either, with a peak concurrent total of only 14,063.

Star Ocean: The Divine Force

Compared to Valkyrie Elysium, Star Ocean: The Divine Force performed decently when it launched in Japan, with over 44,000 units sold on PS4 and PS5. The problem? It’s the weakest game launch in the series. The first Star Ocean in June 1996 sold over 81,000 copies on the Super Famicom, for crying out loud. The Divine Force failed to crack Gfk’s top 10 in the UK and debuted in 14th place for the US, according to The NPD Group, before quietly fading away.

Gungrave G.O.R.E.

Gungrave G.O.R.E. launched a few weeks after Sonic Frontiers and God of War Ragnarok, and days after Pokemon Scarlet and Violet. Shock of shocks, it neither charted in the UK nor the US. On Steam, it has a peak concurrent player total of 138, which says it all.

Harvestella

This one hurts, simply because I loved Livewire’s Ender Lilies: Quietus of the Knights. Sadly, Harvestella matched up in neither sales nor critical acclaim. It debuted in second place in Famitsu’s Japan sales charts with 26,644 units sold on Nintendo Switch, but only reached 38,704 sales before dropping out entirely. On PC, it had a measly 3,395 peak concurrent players via Steam.

The DioField Chronicle

Square Enix may have some heavy hitters coming in 2023, but this year has been rather disastrous for the publisher. It released a flurry of underwhelming titles and commercial flops, like The DioField Chronicle. The strategy RPG launched at 17th place in Gfk’s UK physical sales charts and sold about 12,068 units in its first week in Japan across Nintendo Switch, PS4, and PS5. SteamDB notes 1,272 peak concurrent players over its lifetime, which is pretty sad.

Sackboy: A Big Adventure (PC)

Considering how valuable the PC market has been for Sony with Horizon Zero Dawn, God of War (2018), and Marvel’s Spider-Man Remastered, it was expected that Sackboy would follow up on that success. Alas, it wasn’t to be. It recorded a meagre 610 peak concurrent players since launch, far less than even Uncharted: Legacy of Thieves Collection. Sony hasn’t revealed sales numbers, and maybe it’s unfair to expect much out of a lesser-known IP on PC. Nevertheless, it’s still disappointing.

New Tales from the Borderlands

Released on October 21st, 2022, you’d expect a new Borderlands title, much less the follow-up to Tales from the Borderlands, to get a decent response. But either due to the lack of marketing, Telltale not returning, the premise or a flurry of other releases, New Tales from the Borderlands came and went with very little response. It wasn’t mentioned by Gfk in its UK physical charts for the end of October and throughout November. Even worse, it didn’t even chart in The NPD Group’s US sales charts for October and November.

The Callisto Protocol debuted in sixth place, and while this may seem troublesome – with physical sales 17 percent lower than Dying Light 2 Stay Human, another horror title – it’s not bad. Launch sales were higher than Saints Row and Gotham Knights, with the PS5 version accounting for 74 percent of total sales.

On the other hand, Need for Speed Unbound debuted in 17th place, with sales down 64 percent compared to Need for Speed Heat. GamesIndustry notes that it didn’t receive much marketing or media coverage, which is a shame since the IP is the tenth biggest in UK history. Of the total physical sales, 78 percent were on PS5.

Marvel’s Midnight Suns also had a rough debut at 26th place. Given that there was no PC version at launch and Firaxis is more well-known for its success on the platform, it may be worth waiting for the digital sales. Nevertheless, it’s still disappointing, especially with the Xbox One, PS4, and Nintendo Switch versions delayed for the current-gen releases.

Other noteworthy figures include FIFA 23 in first place despite sales dropping by 47 percent; Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2 remaining in second place after sales fell by six percent; and God of War Ragnarok rising to third following a seven percent sales increase. Nintendo Switch titles continue to hold the top 10 spots, with Mario Kart 8 Deluxe in fourth, Pokemon Violet in fifth and Pokemon Scarlet in seventh despite sales drops.

Check out the top ten best-selling physical games in the UK for the week ending December 3rd below.

But it’s not over yet. December offers even more big releases worth checking out, whether you’re a survival horror fan, racing game enthusiast, or looking to toss a coin to your Witcher, once again. Let’s look at the biggest games launching in December 2022.

The Callisto Protocol

Striking Distance Studios’ The Callisto Protocol immediately made an impression when it was revealed to be directed by Glen A. Schofield, co-creator of Dead Space. The over-the-top brutality, moody interiors, terrifying atmospherics, and sci-fi setting call Visceral’s franchise to mind. However, it builds on that formula in unique ways. Melee combat and stealth are possible, and you’ll need to rely on the former with how scarce ammo can be.

The mutant Biophages aren’t just shambling, violent reminders of Black Iron’s inmates. They’re monstrosities that can transform, becoming stronger if you don’t kill them fast enough. Of course, death plays a major part in The Callisto Protocol as protagonist Jacob Lee can be eaten, crushed, dismembered, and all kinds of horrible things (which you get an Achievement/Trophy for witnessing, so feel free to experiment). Along with working through the prison, Lee traverses Callisto’s surface and investigates the remains of the first colony.

With a 14 to 15-hour playtime, alternate routes, and a compelling mystery behind the terror, The Callisto Protocol is looking to be a scary good time. It’s out on December 2nd for Xbox Series X/S, Xbox One, PS4, PS5, and PC.

Marvel’s Midnight Suns

Marvel’s superheroes, a dark premise, and tactical turn-based combat from the team behind XCOM? That’s a concept many got behind before its official reveal, but a lot more is going on in Marvel’s Midnight Suns than meets the eye. Developed by Firaxis, it sees The Hunter resurrected to fight their parent, Lilith before the world ends. They’ll do this with the Midnight Suns, a collection of heroes ranging from the upright Captain America and Spider-Man to the more occult-minded like Nico Minoru, Magick, and Ghostrider.

Combat plays out in a turn-based fashion like XCOM. However, each hero’s abilities consist of cards drawn and played as the fight progresses. You can have three heroes in a party for a mission, and additional actions like throwing enemies into the environment are available. It’s a big shift away from tactical cover-based combat, but over 80 abilities for The Hunter and unique play styles for each hero (including Heroic Cards) make for plenty of customization. Plus you can hang out with heroes at the Abbey to upgrade their passives, unlock new cosmetics, Combo Cards, and much more.

Marvel’s Midnight Suns also releases on December 2nd for Xbox Series X/S, PS5, and PC. The campaign is about 50 hours, but completing the side content can push that past 80 hours.

Need for Speed Unbound

Criterion Games is back on the Need for Speed franchise with the colorfully stylish Need for Speed Unbound. Set in Lakeshore City, players dive into the resident underground street racing scene, completing weekly qualifiers and participating in The Grand.

Along the way, they’ll meet several characters, including A$AP Rocky, who hosts the Takeover Scene. There are over 140 vehicles to choose which are extensively customizable with tons of different parts. Much like Need for Speed Heat, you participate in races and events during the day to earn money or Bank and then risk it all at night for bigger returns. The cops are also back and more brutal than ever, with everything from a pursuit helicopter to Undercover Camaros, and do anything to stop you.

So far, it all sounds very Need for Speed-esque, but Unbound embraces street culture with its use of Tags. These special effects apply to boosts, drifts, jumps, and much more for some visual flair. You can also use work from artists like Sentrock and JC Riviera as Wraps for your car and strip it down to its innards with new full kit options.

Need for Speed Unbound releases on December 2nd for Xbox Series X/S, PS5, and PC. Whether gimmicky or a huge step up from Heat, it’s worth keeping an eye on.

The Walking Dead: Saints and Sinners – Chapter 2: Retribution

As the follow-up to The Walking Dead: Saints and Sinners, Chapter 2: Retribution continues the journey of the player character, The Tourist, in New Orleans. You’re still killing Walkers, whether it’s with firearms or axes, and exploring the environment for resources and other survivors, who you can either help or harm. The sequel offers new locations to explore, new quests, and new weapons like the sawed-off shotgun and chainsaw.

You’ll also encounter a new faction, the Exiles, and it may be worth helping them. They’re rejected by the Tower and unfavored by the Reclaimed, so you’ll need to weigh your options carefully (especially since the former seems to make some big moves). There’s also the Axeman, an unstoppable enemy that constantly pursues you.

The Walking Dead: Saints and Sinners – Chapter 2: Retribution is out on December 1st for Meta Quest 2, but also coming to PlayStation VR and PlayStation VR2 in 2023.

Hello Neighbor 2

The first Hello Neighbor was a unique concept. A stealth horror game where you snuck around the mysterious Mr Peterson’s house and tried to avoid capture, and each time you failed, his AI would learn from it. Unfortunately, bugs and issues with performance and controls severely hampered its potential.

Hello Neighbor 2 seeks to remedy that, opening up the entirety of Raven Brooks for exploration. You’re a journalist investigating Mr Peterson, but it seems the town itself has something to hide. There are multiple neighbors now, from the Taxidermist and the Baker to The Mayor, who possesses an attack dog. An AI Neural Network is employed for the neighbors, ensuring that they learn from your tactics and optimize their methods accordingly while still acting naturally. As the game progresses, you’ll come across different events, some predetermined and others procedural.

In terms of improvements, the controls should be more fluid, and players can benefit from improved climbing to better explore the world. Hello Neighbor 2 is out on December 6th for Xbox One, Xbox Series X/S, PS4, PS5, and PC, in addition to Game Pass. An average playthrough will take about eight hours, but there is side content to indulge in.

The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt Next-Gen Update

After a few delays, The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt Complete Edition is finally set to release on December 14th for PS5 and Xbox Series X/S (with the update also free to PC players). It adds ray-traced global illumination, 4K/30 FPS and 60 FPS modes, FSR 2.0 support, vastly improved vegetation and screen space reflections, and other improvements.

In terms of quality-of-life features, the long-running Wolf School Gear quest bug has finally been fixed. The map allows for filtering out all the different question marks, and the mini-map is more dynamic, with objectives disappearing while exploring or fighting. A new camera setting that sits closer to Geralt, accessibility features for subtitle size and HUD scaling and a new control option for using Signs are also being added. PS5 players can also benefit from DualSense support. Of course, all versions also receive access to content based on Netflix’s The Witcher, providing new armor for Geralt and alternative appearances for characters like Dandelion.

The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt Complete Edition is out on December 14th for Xbox Series X/S, PC, and PS5. It’s a free upgrade for owners on PS4 and Xbox One, but if you’ve never played the original game and its expansions and want to see what the fuss is about, this will be the definitive version.

Choo-Choo Charles

If you asked someone to define a survival horror game, traveling on the tracks while a demonic spider train tries to eat them would have been the last guess. Developed by Gavin Eisenbeisz, Choo-Choo Charles is about the same demonic train, who goes by the name Charles. It’s your job to kill it. You start with a relatively mediocre locomotive and can upgrade it with weapons like a flamethrower, heavy cannons and rocket launcher.

Scavenging parts is necessary to achieve this, though, which is only possible while traversing the world.  With a vast open world to explore and secrets to uncover, who knows what else could lie in store? We’ll find out when Choo-Choo Charles launches on December 9th for PC.

Crisis Core: Final Fantasy 7 Reunion

One of the best PlayStation Portable games ever, Crisis Core: Final Fantasy 7, gets the remastered treatment. “Remaster” is probably an understatement, though – Crisis Core: Final Fantasy 7 Reunion looks almost like a remake with redone assets, character models, environments and effects, all in Unreal Engine 4. It even runs in 4K resolution on Xbox Series X and PS5, with a variable 60 FPS (though PC players can take advantage of up to 120 FPS).

On top of this are tons of quality-of-life changes and improvements. Combat is more fluid with linkable combos, and you now have more slots for Materia and items. A new Dash function has also been added to get around the environments faster, while the combat UI looks far sleeker. Limit Breaks are also freely accessible without relying on the Digital Mind Wave (and you can now skip the latter’s cutscenes). There are also new cinematics for the Summons.

There aren’t any new story elements, but if you want to know more about Zack’s story and the events leading into the original game, Crisis Core: Final Fantasy 7 Reunion is the best option. It launches on December 13th for Xbox One, Xbox Series X/S, PS4, PS5, PC, and Nintendo Switch.

Dragon Quest Treasures

As a spin-off of Square Enix’s Dragon Quest series that releases on December 9th for the Nintendo Switch, Dragon Quest Treasures tells the story of Erik and Mia. Upon boarding a Viking longship and meeting mysterious creatures named Porcus and Purrsula, they venture to the land of Draconia.

Unlike other games in the franchise, Dragon Quest Treasures is more about exploration and treasure-hunting. Draconia comprises five different islands, each with various treasures like weapons and armor (some of which may be familiar to series fans). With the help of various monsters, you can navigate the environment with their unique Fortes, look for the treasure through their eyes with Fortune Finder, and even fight hostile monsters. They’ll even carry your treasure.

Upon finding the treasure, it’s back to base for evaluating it for the best price. It’s all to find the seven Dragonstones, but overall, Dragon Quest Treasures presents a unique spin on the traditional formula of turn-based combat. In addition to series favorites, there are new creatures to encounter, rival gangs to battle, and a wide range of monsters to recruit.

Now, a brief gameplay clip of the title has emerged online (via Reddit), which isn’t particularly meaty, but does seem to confirm those details. It shows a car crashing into a circular object in the environment, at which point the screen flashes with cartoon-like effects, like a flashing skull and wings briefly popping out of the car.

Meanwhile, journalist Jeff Grubb also claims (via VGC) that the game has been slightly delayed. Previous reports had pegged the next Need for Speed title for a November launch, but Grubb says Criterion decided to push it to December and to “take a few extra weeks before showing it off”. Interestingly, Grubb says that the developer “got sidetracked a little bit” when it was doing support work on Battlefield 2042, which had “a ripple effect.”

Another recent report also provided brief details on the next Need for Speed’s open world and social features. It’s also been reported that the game won’t be cross-gen and will launch only for PS5, Xbox Series X/S, and PC.

Recent rumours have claimed that that’ll be changing soon, with prominent leaker having claimed in a recent Exputer report that the game will be announced in July (along with the next Skate), and he’s now spilled the beans on when it’ll launch as well.

According to an update made by Henderson to his aforementioned Exputer report, the next Need for Speed – possibly titled Need for Speed: Unbound – will launch on November 4. Previous leaks earlier in the year had claimed that the game would be out in September or October, so it seems that there’s been a slight shift in plans- but not a significant one, at any rate.

According to previously leaked details, the open world racer will take place in Lake Shore City, a fictionalized version of Chicago, and will feature stylized anime-like elements in its visuals, along with an emphasis placed on seamless multiplayer mechanics. It allegedly also will not be cross-gen.

Either way, it seems like we’ll be getting concrete details sooner rather than later, so stay tuned for those.

Recently, prominent insider Tom Henderson claimed that the long-awaited Skate reboot – simply titled “skate.” – would be getting fully unveiled in July, and it seems EA will be announcing a couple other games on top of that as well. In a new report published on Exputer, Henderson claims that the next Need for Speed will be one of the games that the company is announcing and unveiling in July.

Interestingly, in his report, Henderson has also corroborated details on the game from reports earlier in the year, which claimed that its visuals would partly have a stylized and anime aesthetic, with Henderson adding that the game’s character designs are similar to the TV show The Boondocks.

Additionally, “meetups” will apparently be one of the game’s headlining feature. These will allow players to meet up with each other throughout the map and initiate races with each other, on tracks that, according to Henderson, have been described as “unique”. Allegedly, the game’s map has a large train track running through it as well, though it’s unknown what sort of a role that could play in races.

The insider also states that the game could be named Need for Speed: Unbound. Though he isn’t completely certain if that is indeed the game’s official name or if it is just a codename, he says it’s the title he’s heard most frequently for the racer.

Earlier this year, leaks also claimed that the Need for Speed title, whatever it ends up being called, will not be cross-gen and will launch only for PS5, Xbox Series X/S, and PC.