Horizon Forbidden West is UK's second-biggest physical launch on PS5 to date

Aloy in Horizon Forbidden West — (Image credit: PlayStation)

Does it make sense to call sales figures 'hench'? Horizon Forbidden West is the PS5’s second-biggest physical launch so far, behind only Spider-Man: Miles Morales in the UK.

It’s a particularly impressive feat when you consider that Forbidden West is available on PS4 too - and unlike Miles Morales, isn’t a console launch title. The new Horizon game comes in just ahead of FIFA 22.

According to the latest GfK figures, reported by GamesIndustry.biz, Forbidden West’s physical launch sales are down 35% compared to 2017’s Horizon Zero Dawn. But drawing too many conclusions from that fact alone would be unwise: many more players are buying games digitally in 2022.

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From a physical retailer perspective, Horizon: Forbidden West's performance looks good. Sales aren't too far off the physical sales of Call of Duty: Vanguard. It did more in its first week than the PS5 version of FIFA 22...February 21, 2022

Lower down the UK boxed charts, Cyberpunk 2077 has reentered at number 23 - a 271% week-on-week sales jump. We can safely put that down to the long-awaited new gen update which has enhanced the game for PS5, as well as Xbox Series consoles.

GamesRadar+ editor Sam judged Horizon Forbidden West to be “phenomenal” in her review last week - and that was before we knew that protagonist Aloy sweats when in hotter areas of the game’s map. That’s some impressive attention to detail, and makes me feel better about my own, er, ‘physical release’ when in hot climates. Sweating is a national pastime for Brits abroad.

Forbidden? We’ll see about that. Here’s our comprehensive guide to Horizon Forbidden West, featuring tips and map specifics.

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Jeremy is a freelance editor and writer with a decade’s experience across publications like GamesRadar, Rock Paper Shotgun, PC Gamer and Edge. He specialises in features and interviews, and gets a special kick out of meeting the word count exactly. He missed the golden age of magazines, so is making up for lost time while maintaining a healthy modern guilt over the paper waste. Jeremy was once told off by the director of Dishonored 2 for not having played Dishonored 2, an error he has since corrected.