EA shoots and scores

When it comes to the UK software sales charts, FIFA is often King. While some like to pick on Nintendo's fairly regular entries from Mario, for example, FIFA is an annual affair that, from year to year, promises revolutionary improvements to shake up the series. FIFA 13 did represent a genuine improvement, though not necessarily on the Wii U.

In happy news for EA, UK retail tracker GFK-Chart-Track has announced that FIFA is the first franchise to pass £1 billion in UK sales, a daunting figure by any standards. The second highest franchise, currently on around £800 million in sales, is Call of Duty, with Nintendo's own moustachioed mascot coming in third place. Important points to bear in mind are that spin-offs are included in the totals — such as the Mario & Sonic games — while DLC and the full extent of services such as FIFA Ultimate Team won't be included. The biggest proviso is that this only covers the period since 1996, so Mario's missing out on his NES and SNES sales figures.

Still, big brands and annual releases are clearly big business, which perhaps explains why Nintendo isn't reluctant to keep the Mario games coming on a regular basis.

[source computerandvideogames.com]