UK Monthly Charts: Spider-Man and Super Mario Lead the Way in October Amid Console Sales Decline

The UK gaming market saw a shift in October, with Spider-Man 2 and Super Mario Bros Wonder emerging as top performers, despite a decline in overall console sales. According to GfK data, physical game sales experienced a slight increase of 8% to 1.08 million units sold, while digital game sales dropped by 24% to 1.6 million units sold. The main reason for this decline is attributed to the release of Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2 in October last year, which is not comparable to this year's Call of Duty release in November. EA Sports FC 24's first-week sales were 16% lower than last year's FIFA 23, partly due to the World Cup's impact on the previous year's game. Spider-Man 2 from Sony was the best-selling new game, with combined GfK and GSD sales showing a 9% decrease compared to the original Spider-Man in 2018, but a 94% increase compared to Spider-Man: Miles Morales in 2020. Assassin's Creed Mirage followed, with sales 58% lower than Assassin's Creed Valhalla's opening four weeks in 2020. Super Mario Bros Wonder was the third biggest physical game, with boxed sales surpassing those of Super Mario Odyssey and Super Mario 3D All-Stars. The game's digital sales are not included in the charts, as Nintendo does not share download figures. Other new releases, such as EA Sports UFC 5, Lords of the Fallen, and Sonic Superstars, also made their way into the charts. Console sales saw a 10% decline, with PS5 sales dipping by 4% and Xbox Series S and X sales dropping by 33%. However, Microsoft's platforms still managed to stay ahead of Nintendo Switch, which saw a 15% increase in sales due to the launch of Super Mario Bros Wonder. The PS5 has maintained a 51% market share over the last six months, while Xbox and Nintendo Switch have seen their shares drop to 23% and 25%, respectively. In terms of accessories, 583,869 add-on products were sold in October, a 12% decrease from September and 15% down from October last year. The top five accessories remain unchanged, with the white DualSense at No.1, followed by the Carbon Black Xbox Wireless Controller, Midnight Black DualSense, Xbox's Robot White, and Pulse Red Wireless Controller.