Digital Game Sales Dominate UK Market in August

The UK gaming market saw a total of 1.74 million video games sold in August, marking a slight decline of 1.5% compared to the previous year, according to GSD data. The month was relatively quiet for the gaming industry, with Take-Two being a notable exception, thanks to the strong performance of Rockstar's GTA 5 and GTA Online, as well as 2K Games' Borderlands, Mafia, and WWE, which all ranked in the top ten. The Borderlands series saw a resurgence in popularity following promotional activities tied to the upcoming Borderlands movie and the announcement of Borderlands 4, with Borderlands 3, New Tales From The Borderlands, and the original Borderlands ranking at No.3, No.6, and No.12, respectively. In terms of digital sales, 75% of games sold by major publishers in the UK were downloaded, representing a 10% increase from August 2023. The best-selling new game of the month was Madden NFL 25, which debuted at No.41, although its sales were 31.5% lower than the previous title. Other notable releases included remastered versions of Doom and Doom 2, which ranked at No.241, and the re-release of the TimeSplitters series on PlayStation, which saw TimeSplitters 2, TimeSplitters: Future Perfect, and the original TimeSplitters ranking at No.218, No.229, and No.326, respectively. The console market continued to experience a slow summer, with just under 75,000 consoles sold in the UK during August, a 3% decline from the previous month and a 45% decline from the same period last year. The PS5 saw a slight increase in sales, up 4% from July, but down 57% from the same period last year. The Switch and Xbox Series consoles saw declines in sales, with the Switch down 10% from July and the Xbox Series down 22% from the same period last year. The accessories market saw 516,774 controllers and other items sold in the UK during August, a decline of 4.5% from July and 9.6% from the same period last year. The DualSense controllers remained the top-selling accessories, with the DualSense White being the best-selling accessory of the year so far, followed by the Midnight Black variety. The PlayStation Portal, a streaming handheld device, was the top-selling accessory in terms of revenue, ranking at No.6 in terms of units sold. The GSD digital data includes sales from participating companies, such as Activision Blizzard, Bandai Namco, and Sony, and covers sales from PC digital stores, Xbox Live, PlayStation Network, and Nintendo Eshop.