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In a symbolic victory for new publishing super-power Activision-Blizzard, Call of Duty 4: Modern Waefare has seen off the combined might of EA’s traditional festive pair of FIFA and Need for Speed to claim the title of ChartTrack’s 2007 Christmas Number One.
The next-gen FPS also saw off strong All Formats Top 40 opposition from last week’s number one, Sega’s popular Wii outing Mario & Sonic at the Olympic Games, thanks to a week-on-week sales rise of 53 per cent. COD4 ended up 35,000 units sales ahead of nearest rival, Ubisoft’s Assassin’s Creed, despite the French firm’s title seeing its sales rise by 92 per cent.
Activision’s success marks the first time since 2002 that EA has failed to top the Christmas listings, having to settle for third spot this year for its best performing title The Simpsons Game. FIFA 08 and Need for Speed: ProStreet claimed fourth and fifth respectively.
The next-gen only chart-topping duo also represents a symbolic victory for Xbox 360 and PS3, which perhaps now can rightfully claim to has surpassed the selling power of last-gen formats, specifically the PS2.
The ChartTrack All Formats Top 40 in full:
1. Call of Duty 4 (Activision)
2. Assassin’s Creed (Ubisoft)
3. The Simpsons Game (EA)
4. FIFA 08 (EA)
5. Need for Speed: ProStreet (EA)
6. More Brain Training from Dr Kawashima (Nintendo)
7. WWE Smackdown vs Raw 2008 (THQ)
8. Dr Kawashima’s Brain Training
9. Mario & Sonic at the Olympic Games (Sega)
10. Wii Play (Nintendo)
