Just Dance 2021 is set to overtake Watch Dogs: Legion on the sales charts after a surprisingly successful year. Just Dance 2021 is the twelfth installment in Ubisoft's popular dance-based rhythm franchise, now an annual staple. The game tasks players with matching the on-screen choreography, tracked through motion controllers or a smartphone app. The game's simple visuals, casual gameplay, pop soundtrack, and fun choreography have turned the franchise into a family-friendly worldwide hit that, like many annual franchises, is starting to become a bit stale, with this year's entry solid but barely improving the formula.

Watch Dogs: Legion, also from Ubisoft, was set to be one of the biggest launch window titles of the new generation. The third installment in the hacking and stealth-based franchise, Watch Dogs: Legion is founded on the ambitious gimmick of every NPC in the game being a possible player character, if recruited by the player. These characters provide their own skills and abilities to complete missions across London, and can be lost forever if killed. While the game's ambition is commendable, clumsy mechanics and repetitive missions bogged down the experience, along with the traditional Ubisoft glitches and water physics worse than one of its PS3 games.

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According to a report from GamesIndustry.bizJust Dance 2021 was surprisingly strong in the last weeks of 2020's physical game sales in the UK. The rhythm game moved up a spot from last month in seventh, notably overtaking the troubled release of Cyberpunk 2077. In one week, the title will overtake Watch Dogs: Legion as Ubisoft's second biggest release of the year, behind Assassin's Creed Valhalla, which lost its number 1 spot to EA's soccer simulation FIFA 21. Another notable success is the strong performance of Mario Kart 8: Deluxe, which has improved on its sales every year since its 2017 release.

Watch Dogs Legion Multiplayer Delayed

Just Dance games are always a steady profit for Ubisoft, but this year saw better-than-usual numbers for the annual franchise, with a 35 percent improvement over Just Dance 2020 during the same period. This is despite its dropped support for the Nintendo Wii and its lack of a high-exposure E3 announcement. It's also particularly impressive given not much has changed since last year's release beyond a new soundtrack, while Watch Dogs: Legion is four years in the making and boasts a new map and ambitious character mechanic.

One plausible theory for the uptick in sales is the effect of the COVID-19 pandemic. With millions more across the world staying at home, Just Dance provides a family-friendly outlet for physical activity and workouts. Meanwhile, the lukewarm reviews might have led many potential buyers opt for Assassin's Creed over Watch Dogs, especially with a multiplayer mode coming later, that will likely drop when the game can be bought on sale. In any case, it's a bittersweet story for Ubisoft, with Watch Dogs: Legion underperforming and Just Dance 2021 running the dancefloor.

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Source: GamesIndustry.biz