Ubisoft Dances Over Modern Warfare

Ubisoft has broken Activision's 9 week reign over the UK software charts with one of its Wii releases - Just Dance.

Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2 has had consistently high sales since entering the market back in November, but was nudged into third place last week with a surprising surge in sales for Ubisoft’s attempt at cracking the dance game formula.

Just Dance is exactly as it says on the tin: just dance away to 32 popular tunes, mimicking the on-screen silhouette as close as possible. The Wii exclusive has slowly climbed the charts since its 100th place debut to take the crown, meeting Wii Fit in second place.

In an impressive move Ubisoft's Just Dance is the unlikely title to knock Call of Duty off the top spot (ending the impressive 9 week run) thanks to a huge 114% increase in sales. After debuting at No100 in the All Formats Chart 7 weeks ago it has been an unexpected hit and steadily risen to the top. Just Dance is Ubisoft's first No1 since Tom Clancy's Rainbow Six: Vegas 2, which was back in March 2008. Nintendo's Wii Fit Plus (+0%) also outsells Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2 (-17%) this week, retaining No2, while the colossal-selling shooter has to settle for No3. EA's two player co-op sequel Army of Two: The 40th Day makes it's debut at No4 which means that Nintendo's Wii Sports Resort (-23%) slips one place to No5. THQ's Darksiders (-23%) moves up two places to No6 and Sega's Bayonetta (-41%) is down to No7. EA's FIFA 10 (-34%) is at No8 and then Ubisoft holds No9 and No10 with James Cameron's Avatar: The Game (-17%) and Assassin’s Creed II (-35%).

TOP 20 ENTERTAINMENT SOFTWARE - INDIVIDUAL FORMATS (UNITS), WEEK ENDING 16 January 2010
1.) JUST DANCE (WII, UBISOFT)
2.) WII FIT PLUS (WII, NINTENDO)
3.) WII SPORTS RESORT (WII, NINTENDO)
4.) ARMY OF TWO: THE 40TH DAY (360, ELECTRONIC ARTS)
5.) CALL OF DUTY: MODERN WARFARE 2 (360, ACTIVISION BLIZZARD)
6.) CALL OF DUTY: MODERN WARFARE 2 (PS3, ACTIVISION BLIZZARD)
7.) NEW SUPER MARIO BROS. WII (WII, NINTENDO)
8.) MARIO KART WII (WII, NINTENDO)
9.) FORZA MOTORSPORT 3 (360, MICROSOFT)
10.) BAYONETTA (360, SEGA)
11.) DARKSIDERS (360, THQ)
12.) ARMY OF TWO: THE 40TH DAY (PS3, ELECTRONIC ARTS)
13.) WII PLAY (WII, NINTENDO)
14.) DARKSIDERS (PS3, THQ)
15.) ASSASSIN'S CREED II (360, UBISOFT)
16.) BORDERLANDS (360, TAKE 2)
17.) ASSASSIN'S CREED II (PS3, UBISOFT)
18.) FOOTBALL MANAGER 2010 (PC, SEGA)
19.) BAYONETTA (PS3, SEGA)
20.) MARIO & SONIC AT OLYMPIC WINTER GAMES (WII, SEGA)

On top of this, increased sales of Nintendo Presents: Crossword Collection helped it stick at No.6 on the DS Top 40, whilst Mystery Stories was up one to No.12, Scribblenauts climbed back up three to No.15, the Firebrand Games-developed movie tie-in racing title Planet 51 was new at No.32, Grand Theft Auto: Chinatown Wars moved back up three to No.26 and puzzle title 7 Wonders II entered at No.37. On the Wii-specific Top 40, Ubisoft also saw Your Shape continue to hold strong at No.5, whilst Avatar is up two to No.7. Capcom saw more success with Resident Evil: The Darkside Chronicles, climbing two to an all-time high of No.8, Metroid Prime Trilogy re-entered at No.26 thanks to all the talk of it being discontinued (although Nintendo has today confirmed that is not the case for the UK), Super Mario Galaxy slipped back up one to No.28 and in the absence of Call of Duty: Modern Warfare copies (dropped out of the chart after placing No.8 last week), Call of Duty: World at War jumped three to No.37. Also of note, possibly on the back of the Bayonetta hype, MadWorld entered the Wii Budget Top 40 at No.10.

Be sure to check out all the UK charts over at the official Chart Track UK website.

Finally, it has been confirmed that thanks to the success of Just Dance, there will indeed be more versions of it:

"Just Dance is Ubisoft's fastest-selling game on Wii. It was vital for us to get it trialled by consumers. Integral to this was a strong TV campaign with major spot buys during the likes of The X Factor supported with shopping centre tours that took part around the country. The game was even picked up by The Gadget Show and Angela & Friends on Sky One.

"The Just Dance brand is growing and we hope to follow up the success with new iterations."
- Rachael Grant, Brand Manager.