UK CHARTS: The Last of US is No.1

Sony’s widely acclaimed PS3 thriller The Last of Us is the UK number one game this week.

The game has comfortably claimed the top spot, and helped drive a surge in the games market, which was worth 12.4m last week (stat calculated by MCV based on GfK/Chart-Track data).

The market was also boozed by Nintendo’s new 3DS game Animal Crossing: New Leaf, which was No.2.

Between them the new first-party exclusive games from Sony and Nintendo accounted for half of the boxed game sales in the UK last week, according to our calculations.

It was the third-biggest weekend for game sales, and The Last of Us is already the third best-selling game of the year, according to Chart-Track, behind Tomb Raider and BioShock Infinite.

But the revenues claimed by The Last of Us are actually very impressive in a wider context. We understand that the PlayStation title grossed more in its first two days than new box office hit Man of Steel.

Estimates from the movie trade press say that film made over 3m at the box office in the UK on Friday and Saturday. We’re not allowed to share the numbers, but The Last of Us comfortably made more money over that same time period, although Man of Steel’s audience was about three times bigger than the game’s.

The Last of Us is also the biggest UK launch of a new IP since 2011’s LA Noire.

Elsewhere in the charts, Tomb Raider (No.4) and Injustice Gods Among Us (No.6) rose up the rankings thanks to price promotions.

The full top 20 for the week ending June 15th is:

1. The Last of Us
2. Animal Crossing New Lead
3. GRID 2
4. Tomb Raider
5. FIFA 13
6. Injustice: Gods Among Us
7. Far Cry 3
8. The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim
9. Luigi’s Mansion 2
10. Assassin’s Creed III
11. Dead Island: Riptide
12. Rugby Challenge 2: Lions Tour Edition
13. LEGO Batman 2
14. Call of Duty: Black Ops II
15. Donkey Kong Returns
16. BioShock Infinite
17. The Walking Dead
18. Grand Theft Auto IV
19. LEGO The Lord of the Rings
20. Remember Me

(Update: we’ve clarified that the box office and games sales comparisons are specifically for a like for like two day period.)