UK Gaming Market Sees Decline in November Sales, Despite Strong Performances from Modern Warfare 2 and God of War Ragnarok

The UK gaming market witnessed a total of 4.3 million game sales in November, marking a 7.3% decline from the previous year, as per the latest GSD data. A significant factor contributing to this decline is the release timing of Call of Duty. This year, Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2 was launched in October, whereas the previous year it was released in November. Despite this, Call of Duty remained the top-selling game in November by a substantial margin. Notably, Modern Warfare 2 nearly surpassed the lifetime sales of Call of Duty: Vanguard within just four weeks of its release. The closest competitor to Call of Duty is God of War Ragnarok, which has had a highly successful launch on the PS5 and PS4 platforms. Sales of the game have seen a 44% increase compared to its predecessor, the 2018 God of War reboot, during the first three weeks. The next notable releases are Pokémon Scarlet and Violet. If combined with their double pack, these games would have secured the third position in the charts. However, due to the unavailability of digital data for Nintendo-published games, it is likely that the game would have ranked second if download figures were included. This marks the second-largest launch for a Pokémon game in the UK, following Pokémon Sun and Moon on the 3DS. Other key releases include Football Manager 2023, which ranked sixth, with sales down 30% compared to the launch of the 2022 edition. Sonic Frontiers, another Sega release, closely followed. In terms of sales channels, 1.82 million games were sold via digital download stores, representing a 10% decline from November 2021. Meanwhile, 2.5 million games were sold through physical retail, with a 4% year-over-year decrease. The Nintendo Switch emerged as the top-selling console in November, driven by a significant surge in console sales. According to GfK panel data, nearly 372,000 consoles were sold during the month, marking a 113% increase from the previous month. Although this is the largest month for console sales this year, it still falls short of the figures recorded in 2021. The Nintendo Switch experienced a 175% jump in sales month-over-month, reclaiming its position as the best-selling console after several months in third place. The release of a special edition Switch OLED, featuring artwork from Pokémon Scarlet and Violet, contributed to this success, accounting for 8% of all Switch consoles sold. Additionally, numerous Black Friday deals were available for the Switch. The Xbox Series S and X followed closely, with a 105% increase in sales, but ultimately settled for second place. The Xbox Series S had a notable £60 price discount during Black Friday and was the top-selling individual console SKU for the month. A substantial increase in stock, coupled with the release of God of War Ragnarok, led to a 71% month-over-month increase in PS5 sales. The God of War bundle was the most popular PS5 console, representing nearly 38% of all PS5s sold in November. The top nine best-selling accessories were all controllers for either the Xbox Series X and S or PS5. The PS5's DualSense White controller led the pack, followed by the Midnight Black version. Five Xbox controllers (Carbon Black, Shock Blue, Pulse Red, Robot White, and Electric Jolt) were next, followed by the PS5's Starlight Blue DualSense (No.8) and the Cosmic Red variant (No.9). A charging station for the PS5 DualSense controllers rounded out the top ten. Controllers were prominently featured during Black Friday, with discounts and bundles widely promoted throughout the sales week. GfK data indicates that over 1.29 million accessories were sold in the previous month, representing a 93% increase from October and a 9.3% rise from November last year. * Digital data is not available for all games. The 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 (including Gearbox, Koch Media, Sabre Interactive), Focus Entertainment, Konami, Marvellous Games, Microids, Microsoft (including Bethesda), Milestone, Nacon, Paradox Interactive, Quantic Dream, Sega, Sony, Square Enix, Take-Two, Ubisoft, and Warner Bros. Notable absentees include Nintendo and 505 Games, as well as smaller studios.