UK Gaming Charts for December: FIFA 23 and Call of Duty Lead the Way

The UK video game market saw nearly 6.4 million units sold in December, representing an 8% decline from the previous year. Digital sales accounted for 2.85 million units, while physical sales totaled over 3.5 million units, according to data from GSD. FIFA 23 took the top spot as the best-selling game of the month, closely followed by Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2. Notably, Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2's sales were relatively evenly split between PlayStation and Xbox platforms, with 54% of sales on PlayStation and 46% on Xbox. The release of God of War Ragnarok, a major PlayStation exclusive, may have influenced the game's performance on Sony's consoles. God of War Ragnarok secured the third position, although if the sales of Pokémon Violet and Scarlet were combined, it would have taken the third spot. Several new releases hit the market in December, but none managed to break into the top ten. EA's Need for Speed: Unbound debuted at 14th place, with launch sales 44% lower than 2019's Need for Speed Heat. The Callisto Protocol ranked 16th, but it's worth noting that digital sales data for this game is not included in the chart. Crisis Core: Final Fantasy VII Reunion entered the chart at 20th place. In terms of hardware, over 460,000 consoles were sold in December, a 24% increase from November but a 17% decline from December 2021, according to GfK data. PS5 console sales experienced a slight increase, while sales of Xbox Series S and X, as well as Nintendo Switch, decreased. Nintendo narrowly claimed the top spot in console sales during the Christmas period, ahead of PS5. The accessories market saw the sale of 1.85 million add-on products, a 44% rise from November but an 11% decline from the previous year. Controllers led the market, with the PS5 DualSense controller taking the top spot.