Starfield Launch Boosted Xbox Series X|S Sales in the UK Alongside Launch of New Series S Model

EA’s yearly football franchise may have changed its name from FIFA to EA Sports FC this year, though as expected, it has had little impact on the game’s sales. As per data for weekly physical sales in the UK released by the Gfk (shared by GamesIndustry’s Christopher Dring on Twitter), EA Sports FC 24 is the UK’s second-biggest physical launch of the year, behind only The Legend of Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom, and ahead of Hogwarts Legacy.

Bethesda Game Studio’s creative director, Todd Howard, wasn’t expecting our Starfield ships to be so damn cool.

Gfk’s top ten for the best-selling physical titles in the UK for the week ending September 23rd is now available. As reported by Games Industry’s Christopher Dring on Twitter, Mortal Kombat 1 debuted on top, while NEOWIZ’s Lies of P took third place. The former saw the most sales on PS5, with Xbox Series X/S in second and Nintendo Switch last.

Starfield has a pretty decent range of clothing for all you fashionistas out there, but every now and then you'll spot an NPC wearing a particularly attractive suit or outfit that puts your own threads to shame. If you were playing Skyrim, you could simply get into your best sneaking position and attempt to undress the person where they stand, but Starfield has no feature that allows you to swipe the clothes that NPCs are wearing. Even murdering them doesn't let you take the clothes off their body.

The recent leaks of Microsoft’s court documents for its recent trial against the FTC have dominated the news cycle for several days now, and more new nuggets of information are still continuing to filter through. For instance, it’s now also emerged that out of Microsoft’s two current-gen Xbox consoles, the less powerful (and cheaper one) had a significantly larger share of the market than its counterpart, at least as of early last year.

The Gfk has released the latest data for weekly physical software sales in the UK (via GamesIndustry), and the biggest new release of last week, The Crew Motorfest, has seen a decent debut. The open world racer sits in second place, which is the same position The Crew 2 debuted in when it launched in 2018. Its physical launch sales, however, are about a third of the 2018 game, as per GI.biz’s Christopher Dring on Twitter– though it’s worth keeping in mind that its digital share is likely to be much higher. 

PS5 sales in Europe last month have increased almost 200% compared to August 2022.

Microsoft is planning a mid-gen refresh for its Xbox Series X and Series S consoles, eyeing a release in 2024. A series of leaked court documents from the Microsoft vs. US FTC trial revealed a roadmap and concept images for its upcoming set of gaming systems, which also includes a new controller with gyro and haptic feedback. Codenamed ‘Brooklin,' the all-digital Xbox Series X boasts the same horsepower as the existing version, albeit lacking a disc drive. The console is cylindrically shaped and comes with a generous 2TB storage — up from 1TB — which I'm guessing is an SSD. It'll bear the same price tag of $499/ Rs. 54,990 and is slated to drop in late October, next year.

Last night, sleuths searching through the FTC documentation provided by Microsoft to courts as part of its appeal for the company’s acquisition of Activision Blizzard struck gold. They found details of potential upcoming games, handheld Xbox hints, and remasters of beloved titles like Fallout 3.

Despite Starfield's popularity, roughly a quarter of Xbox players have yet to actually launch themselves into the game's titular field of stars.

Court documents related to the Federal Trade Commission's lawsuit against Microsoft reveal that the gaming giant had plans for the next Xbox as early as 2022. In a meeting with company executives, one higher-up casually mentions plans to release a new Xbox in 2028, bringing in the next console generation eight years after the Xbox Series X/S launched.

By Sheena Vasani, a writer covering commerce, e-readers, and tech news. She previously wrote about everything from web development to AI at Inside.