Weekly PC download charts: ‘X4 Foundations’ launches to chart success

Image: Egosoft via AFP Relaxnews

The Nov. 30 release of enormous sci-fi space station sim “X4 Foundations” made a sizable impact across a number of PC digital retail sites, even if it couldn’t knock competitive card game “Artifact” from the Steam store’s peak.

Fantasy card game “Artifact”, developed by Steam store operator Valve Corp., is unsurprisingly on top of Steam’s weekly bestseller list for the week beginning Dec. 2, 2018, having released the week before.

Yet without Valve’s platform advantage, another newcomer, from independent Germany game studio Egosoft, made its presence felt across multiple storefronts, notching top five placings on Steam, the Humble Store, GOG and Gamersgate, among others.

Players of Nov. 30’s ambitious space sim “X4: Foundations” can choose whether to explore the X4 universe as a miner, interplanetary trader, fighter pilot, empire builder or outlaw pirate; they can buy, pilot, and upgrade all manner of spaceships, large and small; hulking space stations can also be designed and constructed.

Some early adopters have been reporting issues with bugs and game stability. Even so, “X4: Foundations” appears to be in much better shape than its ill-received 2013 predecessor “X: Rebirth” and, as a result, is more commonly compared to the earlier entries in the 20-year-old franchise.

It enters a genre already populated by “Elite Dangerous”, “Star Citizen”, “No Man’s Sky” and “Eve Online”.

And right now is a busy time for fans of those games. “No Man’s Sky” released an undersea Abyss update at the end of October followed by a Visions update towards the end of November; subscription-based “EVE Online” released free expansion Onslaught halfway through the month; “Star Citizen” is luring players to buy more spaceships through a free trial and anniversary sale running until Dec. 4, and a fourth chapter of the Beyond story arc arrives in “Elite Dangerous” on Dec. 11.

Steam*
1. Artifact
2. PlayerUnknown’s Battlegrounds
3. X4: Foundations
4. Farming Simulator 19
5. Monster Hunter: World
*Steam chart based on revenue rather than units.

Humble Store
1. Fallout 76
2. Dragon Quest XI: Echoes of an Elusive Age – Edition of LIght
3. Just Cause 4 – Gold Edition
4. X4: Foundations
5. Parkitect

GamersGate EU
1. X4: Foundations
2. Farming Simulator 19
3. Conan Exiles
4. Hitman 2
3. Darksiders III

Fanatical
1. Tropico 5 Complete Bundle
2. Fanatical’s Survivors Bundle
3. Neurovoider
4. Tekken 7
5. Anime Tales Bundle

GOG
1. X4: Foundations – Standard + Collectors editions
2. Thronebreaker: The Witcher Tales
3. Battletech – Flashpoint
4. Darksiders III
4. Redout: Solar Challenge Edition

Itchio’s Most Popular
1. Penthos
2. Northbury Grove: King’s Comfort
3. Bread – A First Person Adventure Game
4. Death Trips
5. The Child’s Sight

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