Splatoon Holds Onto Top 5 Territory in the UK Charts

I'm quite surprised that Splatoon is performing so well in many countries. I mean, I was sure that the game deserves this success, but so many other great (new) franchises didn't do half as good. It's great to see that Nintendo can still have success with something different!

A 50% drop in sales for week 2 is excellent. Usually the 2nd week drop-off is 80% or more, and that's even for supposedly evergreen Nintendo titles like Mario Kart and Smash. I'd be very eager to hear hardware news, as surely most Wii U owners will have been very aware of this pre-release and got it week 1. Could it be that these decent week 2 sales mean non Wii U owners are hearing about it and being converted?

Well credit where due, I HAVE seen splatoon advertised here in the UK!! Tv ads, website pop ups and magazine page's.....it's been widely reviewed and commented on on tv and social media and seems to have a genuine 'buzz' generated!!
Let's hope it's a corner turned in terms of how future releases in the UK will be delivered and we'll see more recognition as deserved for the Wii u

Great hold. It also debuted well in Germany and France, which are probably its strongest European markets. With expectations in check and knowing that success is relative, I think Splatoon is doing pretty well. If this game can manage a million sales this year, maybe 2 million LTD, I'm sure Nintendo will consider its "garage developer" experiment a success and we'll see more of it. Good things ahead.

Also, Steins;Gate made it into the UK chart! Very happy to see that.

Great news,the game is sublime and needs to be played by anyone who has any interest in gaming.Hopefully the mates of Wii U owners who have played it will then tell their mates about it,who'll go and tell their mates and among all these newly curious mates word will spread around.Then by the time the big August update rolls out every gran and her dog will know about the magic of Splatoon.

Well deserved.

I've actually started to see Splatoon advertised on some major channels, and at peak times. No actual gameplay footage was shown, which I find a little odd.

Still it's great news the game has done so well, let's hope it keeps on going.

@Peach64 I sure hope so! It's deserving of all the attention.

It just goes to show that online shooter no matter what style still rule the world as long as they're good.

Is this the best hold of a WiiU game ? Fear not, we have Splatoon for a long long time (hopefully its not an annual thing and every 2-3 years)

I was forced to buy two.

One, I'd already ordered online, but due to the heist, I haven't yet received it. So, last week Thursday, I bought my second one in store because I hate waiting.

I've been trying to get the one I ordered online cancelled, but no one is bloody picking up the phone!!!

Also, anyone else coming across players who jump about constantly while shooting? It's frikkin annoying...

I honestly believe that any person that can play for an hour will get hooked on this game. Once you hit level 4 things just start to get real interesting. The frantic fun of turf wars and the not as easy as I thought it was going to be single player just play the right chord regarding content. To know more is coming just makes this game my absolute go-to game. Haven't played anything else since shortly before Splat👀n came out. There is nothing else out there like this game. Thank you Nintendo!

It's indeed extremely annoying but also makes them look very silly. And it's not even a very effective defense because once you've sussed them out, they are easy targets.

@Mk_II You're right actually. They do make for easier targets once you know what to expect, but I just think it's an annoyance that we could certainly do without.

I mean, we're only just a week or so into the game's lifetime and already we have people pulling this crap? I shudder to think what will become of the game in four weeks time...

And to think the Wii U Splatoon bundle isnt out in the UK for another week or 2 yet. Not sure who they're expecting to buy that unless they are finally going to drop the Wii U price at E3.

My kids still dont have any Wii U owning friends, but a huge $249 marketing campsign - the same price everybody paid for a Wii 8 years ago - alongside this game could make for a summer uptick in Wii Us popularity.

@Rhydas I treat them the way I treat the players in Mario Kart 8's battle mode who weave about: I target them relentlessly.

It's great to see Splatoon doing well, but I'm surprised by this. The Wii U is not very popular here in the UK.

I wish America released weekly numbers opposed to one NPD a month. It would be nice to see how Splatoon is doing on our side of the pond. Splatoon kicked ass in Japan and has shown great legs in Europe, too. Despite only having 3 days of May numbers, I'm eager to see how Splatoon did on the 29th, 30th and 31st. Alas, we wont know until mid- July how Splatoon actually did for the month of June. Hopefully Splatoon its featured heavily at E3 with more free DLC announced and/or released. I think Nintendo would be wise to release free DLC right after their Digital Event for both Splatoon (more maps and weapons) and Smash (tourneys? ).

I've really enjoyed Splatoon, but it's all that my eight year old talks about at the moment. He's obsessed! It was very well advertised here over the school break. Nintendo UK marketing did well.

I just hope overall it does well; like a few million sold.

At this point, it's pretty obvious that the game is a success. Hopefully Nintendo takes the hint and keeps surprising us with appealing new IPs (I don't consider Code Name STEAM to be "appealing", before someone says anything about that).

I'd love to know how many are playing at any given time lol. Seems like this game is flying off the shelves. Had some trouble with the games network performance during peak hours over the weekend.

The more people playing, the less time waiting for a match. Keep those purchases coming!

Went from level 1 to 11 over the weekend. Most interesting matches were the first night where in two games the other team was so effective I have to believe they were communicating with each other. Last night I had a match where there seemed to be almost no one on the other team. Sure enough, at the end of the match three of the four scores were zero for that team. I don;t think I would have wanted to be that last player, though s/he certainly did well enough with the tactic used of hiding and tossing out burst bombs one after another when one of us was spotted..

@Faruko One new entry every generation like Mario Kart or smash Bros is my gues. It is Nintendos 3rd big multiplayer franchise now.

From what we can tell right now i think the game will get over 1 million copies sold. Perhaps it will even manage 2 million.

@Rhydas @Mk_II the jumping is a common tactic in fps games to avoid getting shot in the head as much. Of course in splatoon it doesn't work that way and they look silly for trying. The good sign of this is less cod players out there and hey, at least they can't lay on the floor or tea-bag you if you lose

@Ninty4thewin check out the Wii U Top Ten on GFK Chart-Track, Fifa 13 is still in it lol. Only football game there is and I believe it's dirt cheap

This is excellent news. I am loving playing this game at the minute. I can understand peoples gripes with the game -very few maps/loadout changing option/team chat - amongst others, but the core experience is so addictive and fun/frustrating that I can't put it down! It's got that balance just right for me so this isn't a real surprise.

Nintendo have really done well here. They have thought it through so well. I love the general approach they are bringing to gaming now on the WiiU too. I bounce on and have a few races of Mario Kart, switch over to Splatoon and wreck a few maps and in an hour I've had more fun than I would with an entire grind of a night with say the latest Call of Duty. It's quick, it's accessible and it's always good craic.

Back to Splatoon...3 minute rounds? Sweet. Excellent balance of classes? Sweet. Attractive and identifiable maps? Sweet. Oozing () with style humor and character. Sweet. I could go on. The gist is...sweet.

I'm still discovering subtle little nuances in the gameplay and maps and expect that as time goes on and they release more content, this will only increase my absolute joy of loading a game I paid £30 for.

How people can afford to pay £50/£60 for the latest COD or BF or Titanfall or whatever plus the additional cost of DLC ranging in price but often extortionate PLUS the monthly cost of XBLive or PlayStation Plus, I will never know. Perhaps these people literally spend their money on NOTHING ELSE and simply regurgitate their food for their young. Or perhaps I'm becoming cheap in my old age. Nevertheless, this is serious fun and serious value. You simply don't get that with the big budget crap out there.

They have approached the shooter genre in a typically Nintendo way and won me over all over again and I hope the inevitable sequels will share the success. Staaaay fresh! Says it all really

@CowboyIkari
Agree with most of that, but about the pricing don't forget we North Americans still got charged full price for Splatoon, plus the Amiibo 3-pack is another $30+ for those who bought it. Actual DLC/unlocks are still free for now though.

@Qun_Mang Yeah that's grim, I didn't really understand the price point over there. Pretty unfair really considering we are getting such a sweet deal here. Then again, they'll probably expect to ship a lot more copies in North America and are looking to get as much as possible out of it so maybe that is why.

I'm not too fussed on amiibo to be honest. You can't get your hands on the good ones anyway and after that, what's the point? Maybe I'm being dumb but it seems to me like you can't actually fight other people with your amiibo created character online in Smash Bros.?What's the point then? Am I missing something? Also I've heard the Splatoon amiibo integration gives access to weapon and armour online which is a definitely a step in the right direction, but there needs to be MORE! They really need to have a serious long term benefits to justify me buying/collecting them.

I've no doubt the Link amiibo will be awesome to have when Zelda WiiU comes out (actually any Zelda related amiibo will be great) because by then they will have figured out what to actually DO with the amiibo that is worthy of having it.

Same thing to be said of Fox McCloud and Starfox...I'm thinking some awesome news will be announced regarding this at E3...

@rjejr I hear you. I go to high school in the United States and know at least 20 people at my school who would buy a wii u with a price drop. I am pretty lucky though because I already have 10 friends who already own a wii u. I hope your kids get some wii u owning friends.

But I thought UK hated Nintendo, and colorful games and....

Is it a shooter? That explains it

Sarcasm aside, I am happy to see these results. This is the only game I want to play online.

@rjejr

Actually a local store here gave a free Gold Mario if you purchased the Splatoon Wii U bundle. Nintendo could even keep the price but bundle the three pack. Get people hooked on amiibo right from the start.

@TICGS - You go to a HS where 10 people own a Wii U? Do you live in Redmond, WA? (FYI - Nintendo's US hq.) That is good to hear though. Maybe when my kid gets to HS.

@sinalefa - "Nintendo could even keep the price but bundle the three pack"

I'd be ok w/ that, Splatoon Wii U bundle plus 3 amiibo for $299 since game is $60 in US and amiibo 3 pack another $35. They don' thave to do that w/ all the Wii U, just make it a special bundle and drop the non-Splatoon bundle to $269. I know a $30 drop isn't much, but American's only buy things on sale. Supermarkets routinely have big stickers for only 1 or 2 cents off. People would buy Wii U to save $30 if there was a big marketing push behind it. Reason being - a well promoted $30 price drop now means there won't be another until who knows when.

@rjejr Nope I go to St. Vincent- St. Mary High School in Akron, Ohio. Nintendo is just decently popular in this region. I remember when I was little 70% of the kids in my kindergarten owned a GameCube.

This is the type of game, that will strongly, benefit from word of mouth, people are aware it exists, that it is a good incept even, and that it looks good and fun, but when I downloaded it, I surely did not expect to get instantly hooked, its like mario kart, and thats something you don't really get from reviews, and as more people own it and show it to others, the more popular it will become, it will continue to sell good

Still have not for my copy yet... Busy working... Hopefully will be able to buy soon.

I'm telling everyone I know how awesome Splatoon is :3 Like Souflee said, it's an experience reviewers are having a hard time getting across. It just FEELS like a great game, and I'm sure anyone who gave it a shot would have a great time. This is the game Nintendo needs to have in their Target/Best Buy demo systems, because it's their ace in the hole at the moment. What a success.