MCV/DEVELOP News, events, research and jobs from the games industry
EA’s FIFA 11 sold a staggering 821,000 units in its opening weekend in the UK, MCV can reveal.
In total the game made 28.93m, which in itself is more than the total value of the UK video games market in any single week so far in 2010 – including weeks that saw massive releases such as Halo Reach and Red Dead Redemption hit retail.
FIFA 11 also enjoyed the second biggest 24-hour launch sell-through (684,602 units) in UK history, making it second only to Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2 (1.23m units).
FIFA 11 is the most critically and commercially successful football launch ever and that’s something the whole studio team in Vancouver, the EA publishing organisation and our retail partners can be immensely proud of,” UK marketing director Stuart Lang told MCV.
But this is just the beginning. We want to bring all football fans into the FIFA franchise. So we’re really focused on long-term engagement and that means understanding how we can continually improve and stay ahead of the game to ensure we deliver the essential interactive football product and service that every football fan wants to participate in.
To deliver against this, we’re investing an unprecedented amount of time and money in customer service, online infrastructure and content offerings. We’re also making significant investment in our marketing communications – the majority of which is focused post-launch, to support us through Christmas and throughout next year.”
It was revealed earlier today that FIFA 11 enjoyed the strongest launch the series’ history, claiming the title of the third best week one sales performance ever in the UK. Sales in the period were up 21 per cent compared to FIFA 10. In total, FIFA 11 accounted for 51 per cent of the UK’s total game sales last week.
UK sales director Rob Davey added: We couldn’t be more delighted with the first week’s sell-through on FIFA 11. This has been a superb team effort from our studio, PR, marketing and sales teams. They’ve produced the best football game ever and one of the biggest launches this country has ever seen. That’s no mean feat in what has been a really challenging market – but 21% growth in week 1 sales year on year for FIFA is nothing short of spectacular.
I would particularly like to thank all our retail partners across the UK who are very much a part of this successful launch.”
Numbers courtesy of EA and UKIE GfK Chart-Track
