F1 2010 zooms past Halo: Reach to take pole position

Well…That was unexpected. Here we all was thinking that Halo: Reach was going to spend at least a few weeks at the number one spot in the UK video game charts, when comes along F1 2010 and promptly knocks it off. Yes, Codemasters have reason to celebrate. Not only did F1 secure a huge debut on the top spot, but it is the first officially licensed Formula One game to reach number one since 2001 when Sony’s PlayStation-exclusive Formula One 2001 managed to do the same.

So this sees Halo: Reach drop down to the second spot after a huge 80 per cent drop in sales. Seems it laid its eggs in one basket and they were promptly taken in one go…In other words the huge day-one sales records meant that it’s likely the majority of Xbox 360 owners brought it when it was released. Perhaps Halo: Reach will take back the number one spot next week? We shall see.

With some high profile releases this week, the charts have been shaken up, and we’ve seen – including F1 2010 – five new entries, with the rest being Dead Rising 2, Civilization V, Guitar Hero: Warriors of Rock and Final Fantasy XIV (Collectors Edition). Activision may be disappointed that it’s latest Guitar Hero didn’t debut any higher than sixth but we’ll have to wait till next week to see if people are getting sick of the music genre or not.

The usual suspects, aside from Halo: Reach are Sports Champions, Prince of Persia: The Forgotten Sands, Mafia II and Toy Story 3, with each dropping down in the charts.

The games to have dropped out of the charts are Just Dance, Tiger Woods PGA Tour 11, Red Dead Redemption, Kane & Lynch 2: Dog Days and Tom Clancy’s H.A.W.X. 2, with H.A.W.X. 2 suffering the worst, going from sixth all the way to 23.

Here’s how the top ten looks:

(NE) – 1 – F1 2010 – Codemasters
(1) – 2 – Halo: Reach – Microsoft
(NE) – 3 – Dead Rising 2 – Capcom
(NE) – 4 – Civilization V – 2K
(2) – 5 – Sports Champions – Sony
(NE) – 6 – Guitar Hero: Warriors of Rock – Activision
(5) – 7 – Prince of Persia: The Forgotten Sands – Ubisoft
(3) – 8 – Mafia II – 2K
(4) – 9 – Toy Story 3 – Disney
(NE) – 10 – Final Fantasy XIV – Square Enix