GoWIII smashes series sales records

Not only did Sony’s God of War III shoot straight to the top of the ELSPA GfK Chart-Track All Formats Top 40 this week, it also set a new sales standard for Sony’s violent action series.

The game bettered the week-one sales performance of its PS2 predecessor by 2.65-to-1, despite the fact that the PS3 install base is far smaller right now than the PS2’s was at the time GoWII was released.

The victory is also a notable one for Sony. In 2009 the platform holder managed just one first party number one, Killzone 2. Yet already in 2010 Sony is enjoying its second chart-topper, following the success of Heavy Rain three weeks ago.

Chart-Track does note, however, that God of War III’s sales performance falls well short of 2010’s current pace setter, Final Fantasy XIII.

Square Enix’s week one sales were nearly three times greater than God of War III’s though of course FFXIII was released on two formats – and on a Tuesday.