UK Gaming Market Sees 6% Decline in Sales and 29% Drop in Console Sales for 2022

Overview of the UK Gaming Market in 2022 - The UK gaming market experienced a 6% decline in sales, while new game releases saw a 20% increase in sales. - Console sales plummeted by 29%, with all major platforms witnessing a decline in sales. - The top-selling games of the year were FIFA 23, Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2, and LEGO Star Wars: The Skywalker Saga, with the Nintendo Switch being the best-selling console despite a 28% decline in sales. The UK gaming market faced challenges in 2022, primarily due to ongoing stock shortages and a decline in popularity of older titles. According to GSD market data, which tracks physical and digital sales from major publishers, 34.2 million games were sold in 2022, representing a 6% drop compared to 2021. Almost 20 million games were sold through digital download stores, marking a 3.4% decline from 2021, while 14.2 million games were sold through physical retailers, resulting in a 9% year-over-year decline. The decline in sales can be attributed to older titles, as 13.9 million games sold in 2022 were new releases, showing a 20% increase over 2021. For further analysis on the new games market, refer to the article by analyst Sam Naji. Notable growth in the new games market includes a 4% increase in FIFA 23 sales compared to FIFA 22, a 67% increase in Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2 sales compared to Call of Duty: Vanguard, and a 36% increase in Pokémon Scarlet and Violet sales compared to Pokémon Brilliant Diamond and Shining Pearl. The shift from physical media to digital downloads slowed significantly in the UK last year. Among games released both digitally and physically, 66% of games sold in the UK were downloaded, up from 65% in 2021, following significant growth during the COVID-19 lockdown years of 2020 and 2021. It is essential to note that Nintendo does not share digital download figures, which may affect the ranking of its titles. The best-selling Nintendo game was Nintendo Switch Sports, although combined sales of Pokémon Scarlet and Violet would have placed them higher. The top-selling games of the year were FIFA and Call of Duty, with LEGO Star Wars: The Skywalker Saga taking third place, ahead of Elden Ring. New releases that failed to make the top 20 include NBA 2K23, Gotham Knights, Saints Row, Kirby and the Forgotten Land, Tiny Tina's Wonderlands, Splatoon 3, and Football Manager 2023. Outside the top 50, other notable releases include Dying Light 2: Stay Human, Uncharted: Legacy of Thieves Collection, Just Dance 2023, Mario + Rabbids: Sparks of Hope, Total War: Warhammer 3, Mario Strikers: Battle League Football, The Last of Us: Part 1, and Need For Speed Unbound. Other releases, such as PGA Tour 23, The Callisto Protocol, Crisis Core: Final Fantasy VII: Reunion, Ghostwire Tokyo, Evil Dead: The Game, Rainbow Six Extraction, Marvel's Midnight Suns, Two Point Campus, Sniper Elite 5, Stranger of Paradise: Final Fantasy Origin, Stray, and A Plague Tale: Requiem, finished outside the top 100, with some being available through subscription services. In terms of console sales, GfK panel data indicates that 2 million gaming machines were sold in the UK during 2022, representing a 29% decline from the previous year. This decline was primarily due to significant drops in PS5 and Nintendo Switch console sales. Sony's new console was impacted by stock shortages throughout the year, resulting in a 33% decline in sales compared to 2021. Nintendo Switch sales decreased by 27.5% but still ended the year as the UK's best-selling console. The Xbox Series S and X took third place, performing relatively better than its competitors, with sales down by nearly 15%. The Xbox Series X also suffered from supply constraints. The gap between the three platforms was less than 60,000 units by the end of the year. In terms of accessories, 9.22 million controllers, cases, and headphones were sold in the UK last year, marking a 13% decline from the previous year. The DualSense White Controller was the best-selling accessory, followed by the Midnight Black version. The best-selling third-party accessory was Turtle Beach's Ear Force Recon 50X Headset (Black) for Xbox, which was the fourth best-selling add-on product. GSD digital data encompasses games from participating companies sold via Steam, Xbox Live, PlayStation Network, and Nintendo Eshop. Major participating companies include Activision Blizzard, Bandai Namco, Capcom, Codemasters, Electronic Arts, Embracer Group, Focus Entertainment, Konami, Marvellous Games, Microids, Microsoft, Milestone, Nacon, Paradox Interactive, Quantic Dream, Sega, Sony, Square Enix, Take-Two, Ubisoft, and Warner Bros. Notable absentees include Nintendo and 505 Games, along with smaller studios.