Black Ops II is the UK’s Christmas No.1 game

Call of Duty Black Ops II is the UK’s video games Christmas No.1, giving Activision a run of six consecutive weeks at the top.

Sales of the game were fractionally up by one per cent in the busy pre-Christmas trading week (ending Dec 22nd for this listing).

It’s the first game of 2012 to have had such a solid run at the top spot. The No.1 slot has otherwise changed regularly over the year, with almost 30 different No.1s.

Black Ops II’s success also means that EA or Activision have, for the last decade, claimed every Xmas No.1 (except for Bethesda’s Skyrim last year).

Elsewhere the other big gains in this Christmas chart come courtesy of retailer promotions for recent big budget titles, an indicative sign of the hard battle retailers have faced in coercing punters to buy boxed video games in 2012.

Ubisoft’s Far Cry 3 made it to No.2, held off by Call of Duty. The game saw considerable sales uplift of 86 per cent, as GAME cut the price of the title to 22. It ends a good Q4 in the charts for Ubisoft, which also has Just Dance 4 (No.4) and Assassins’s Creed III (No.7) in the top ten this week.

Hitman: Absolution’s retail deals kept it high in the chart at No.3. In previous weeks the price had been cut by half of the Square Enix game, and sales were up one per cent with those offers still in effect,

Although sales were up 15 per cent week on week, EA’s FIFA 13 has to settle for No.4. Another EA game, Need For Speed Most Wanted, also climbed up two space to No.6 in the top ten, with sales up 27 per cent thanks to retail price deals also.

THE TOP 20 IN FULL:

1 – CALL OF DUTY: BLACK OPS II – ACTIVISION BLIZZARD

2 – FAR CRY 3 – UBISOFT

3 – HITMAN ABSOLUTION – SQUARE ENIX EUROPE

4 – FIFA 13 – ELECTRONIC ARTS

5 – JUST DANCE 4 – UBISOFT

6 – NEED FOR SPEED MOST WANTED – ELECTRONIC ARTS

7 – ASSASSIN’S CREED III – UBISOFT

8 – HALO 4 – MICROSOFT

9 – LEGO THE LORD OF THE RINGS – WARNER BROS. INTERACTIVE

10 – WWE ’13 – THQ

11 – THE ELDER SCROLLS V: SKYRIM – BETHESDA SOFTWORKS

12 – SKYLANDERS GIANTS – ACTIVISION BLIZZARD

13 – FOOTBALL MANAGER 2013 – SEGA

14 – MEDAL OF HONOR: WARFIGHTER – ELECTRONIC ARTS

15 – SONIC & ALL STARS RACING TRANSFORMED – SEGA

16 – FORZA MOTORSPORT 4 – MICROSOFT

17 – MOSHI MONSTERS: MOSHLINGS THEME PARK – MIND CANDY

18 – LEGO BATMAN 2: DC SUPER HEROES – WARNER BROS. INTERACTIVE

19 – NEW SUPER MARIO BROS. 2 – NINTENDO

20 – DISNEY EPIC MICKEY 2: THE POWER OF TWO – DISNEY INTERACTIVE STUDIOS