Never understimate the forbidden fruit
Rockstar’s crime-ridden magnum opus,Grand Theft Auto V, is back in the number one spot of the UK charts, some five years after its release. The open-world title shoved passed bothCall of Duty: WWIIandFIFA 18, both of which have held a monopoly on the top spot, to steal the glory.
Since I’ve been listing the weekly charts, a lot of you fine folk have been flabbergasted byGTAV’s ability to maintain consistent high placing this far into its life. While I could write an entire essay on reasons why, learned from years of standing behind shop counters, it is essentially the result of several factors.
Firstly,GTAVis a go-to entry purchase with almost every console sold. When people pick up “a PS4/Xbox and some games,” one of those games, more often that not, isGTAV.Itis also consistently cheap, and usually included in sales and bundle deals.GTAgames are alsothesingle most consumer-damaged discs, requiring re-purchases, sometimes multiple times by thesamecustomers.
GTAVis a very popular “itch-scratching” title, with many customers re-selling and re-buying the title in a perpetual cycle of repetition. Finally, the game’s controversy simply never,everstops inquisitive kids from wanting to get their mitts on it, long after everyone else has long gotten over its dubious themes.
Again, this isn’t even scratching the surface on what has enabled Rockstar’s digital crime spree to run and run for the past five years, and likely into the near-future, but just the pattern I’ve personally witnessed forGTAVand its many predecessors.
Elsewhere,Mario Kart 8 Deluxehas shot up from twelfth to fifth place, while fellow Nintendo releasesZelda: Breath of the WildandSuper Mario Odysseystill cling on to Top Ten positions. Further down the charts, re-entries were made byResident Evil 7,Gears of War: Ultimate EditionandThe Evil Within 2.
U.K. video game sales chartw/e: June 27, 2025(Chart reflects in-store sales only)
1.Grand Theft Auto V –Take 22.Call of Duty: WWII –Activision3.FIFA 18 –Electronic Arts4.Assassin’s Creed Origins –Ubisoft5.Mario Kart 8 Deluxe –Nintendo6.PlayerUnknown’s Battlegrounds–Microsoft7.Star Wars Battlefront II– Electronic Arts8.The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild –Nintendo9.Forza Motorsport 7–Microsoft10.Super Mario Odyssey–Nintendo
U.K. video game charts[GFK Chart-Track]
