FIFA 17 has proven to be a huge success in the UK, with it selling 40 times as many copies as its competitor PES 2017.
The incredible stat was revealed by gaming industry analyst Daniel Ahmad, who goes by ZhugeEX on Twitter, who noted how FIFA 17 had shifted 1.1 million copiers in the UK while PES 2017 hadn’t even reached 50,000 sales. This is despite PES 2017 receiving the more positive reviews out of the two games, with many branding it as one of the greatest football games of all time.
But even though PES 2017 may be the biggest critical darling of the two, FIFA 17 has gone on to beat the series’ launch sales record set by FIFA 13, while PES 2017 brought in fewer sales than last year’s entry.
Remember how every year everyone says that this could be the year PES beats FIFA?
FIFA 17 first week sales >40x more than PES in the UK.
— Daniel Ahmad (@ZhugeEX) October 3, 2016
Yes. That is more than 40x more.
FIFA 17 sold over 1.1 million units in its first week in the UK.
Meanwhile PES 2017 can’t hit 50k.
— Daniel Ahmad (@ZhugeEX) October 3, 2016
Oh and FIFA17 had a record launch, beating the prior record set by FIFA13 which went on to sell well over 15m worldwide
PES sales down YoY
— Daniel Ahmad (@ZhugeEX) October 3, 2016
As Daniel points out, each year many are keen to point out how PES may finally beat EA Sports’ mammoth football series in sales, but the reality couldn’t be further from the truth. Though PES 2017 will certainly find its audience, in the West it simply does not receive the same amount of attention as its more high-profile contemporary, and FIFA 17‘s addition of its new ‘The Journey’ story mode seems to have bolstered its sales significantly.
For FIFA fans, news of the latest game’s success will be welcome news, with it proving that EA’s gamble on introducing a new mode has paid off. Considering that the company has been criticised in recent years for failing to make sizeable improvements and additions to their football franchise, hopefully FIFA 17’s increased sales will inspire them to think outside of the box more often.
Here’s the full rundown UK video games chart:
- FIFA 17
- Forza Horizon 3
- Lego Star Wars: The Force Awakens
- BioShock: The Collection
- XCOM 2
- PES 2017
- Destiny: The Collection
- Rocket League
- NBA 2K17
- GTA5
