GTA 5 Online Launch Nears: Title’s Fall In UK Video Game Chart And Other Details

With the highly anticipated launch of “Grand Theft Auto 5 Online” only hours away, a new report on Monday said that EA Sport’s FIFA 14 has knocked Rockstar Games’ latest title off its No. 1 position in the UK video game chart complied by GfK Chart-Track.

According to a post published on the GfK Chart-Track website, GTA 5 sales fell by 83 percent week-on-week. However, GTA 5 still continues to sell well and its second week sales are "equivalent to being the 18th biggest week if ranked against week 1 sales of any other games ever released."

FIFA 14 hit the top spot on the chart last week but could not match the first week sales numbers of the previous edition of the game -- FIFA 13. According to GfK Chart-Track, FIFA 14’s sales are down 25 percent year-on-year, most probably due to the upcoming release of FIFA 14 on next-gen consoles such as PlayStation 4 and Xbox One, and the increasing popularity of GTA 5.

A report from Videogamer said that with the launch of GTA 5 Online, the game could manage to get back on top of the charts next week when sales of FIFA 14 could fall.

Here are the top 20 games according to rankings compiled by GfK Chart-Track:

For the complete chart, click here.

Rockstar Games confirmed on Monday that it would launch the GTA 5 online on Tuesday morning, while updates and tweaks to the online edition of the game would arrive in coming weeks and months.

Examiner.com reported that a patch would be released for GTA 5 on the Playstation 3 and Xbox 360 at 7 a.m. EDT (10 p.m. PDT) on Tuesday. Once users download the title update, they can use the character-selection menu from the single-player campaign to jump into Grand Theft Auto 5 Online.

Users, however, will first need to create a custom character in the online multiplayer mode, before they can participate in the multiple match types with 15 other players.

Meanwhile, GTA 5's creators have reportedly warned users that the online launch of the title could face server worries. Other popular games have faced similar issues in the past after their servers buckled under massive demand. In March, during EA Sport’s Sim City launch, gamers experienced a delay of up to 30 minutes before getting started and then experienced slow gameplay.

“At a conservative estimate I would expect about two million players to log on to GTA Online within the first 24 hours. Rockstar has never done an online game of this scale before, so they are totally unproven in terms of their network infrastructure,” BBC News quoted Keza MacDonald, UK games editor for IGN.com, as saying.

“And even the highly successful World of Warcraft at its peak didn't have as many people playing online at once as GTA is likely to have, so it wouldn't surprise me if there were problems.”