It had to happen sooner or later – Halo 3’s chart-topping position being usurped by another game, we mean. It’s just that we thought it’d be later rather than sooner…

But if you’re going to hand your crown to anyone it might as well be a worthy opponent, right? And they get no worthier than titles in the gargantuan FIFA franchise. Just last week we heard a whisper that FIFA might actually have pipped Halo 3 to the top of the UK charts. While that didn’t come to pass at the time we’re looking forward to seeing how it all looks tomorrow – especially now that FIFA 08 has just taken the top spot in the German software charts while Halo manages only third place.

Okay, so the German charts are calculated a little differently to our own, with platform variants being treated seperately rather than lumped together, thus FIFA 08 has four of the top ten chart positions while Halo 3 has two. But the net result is the same – Halo 3, the biggest and fastest-selling game launch of all time and fully-fledged cultural phenomenon (according to B. Gates), has been bumped off the top of the German charts less than a fortnight after launch. Achtung, baby!

Anyway, here for your general schadenfreude-related pleasure is the German top ten in full:

1. FIFA 08 (PS2)
2. FIFA 08 (PC)
3. Halo 3 Standard Edition (Xbox 360)
4. The Settlers: Rise of an Empire (PC)
5. FIFA 08 (PS3)
6. FIFA 08 (Xbox 360)
7. Halo 3: Limited Edition (Xbox 360)
8. Enemy Territory: Quake Wars (PC)
9. The Sims 2: Bon Voyage (PC)
10. Dr Kawashime: More Brain Training (DS)