UK Video Game Sales Experience a Decline in November

In the UK, video game sales totaled just over three million units in November, marking a 33% decline from the previous year, according to GSD data. However, two significant factors contributed to this drop: the absence of a major game release like Call of Duty, which launched in October this year, and the fact that Black Friday sales are not included in this year's November data. As a result, December's sales figures are expected to be substantially higher. Black Friday sales data reveals that 1.53 million games were sold during the week, representing an 8% decrease from the previous year. The omission of Black Friday data skews the overall statistics. Call of Duty: Black Ops 6 retains its top spot, followed by EA Sports FC 25, which saw a 22% decline in sales compared to the previous year. The highest new entry of the month is Dragon Age: The Veilguard at number three, but it has had a slow start, ranking as the 12th fastest-selling game of the year after four weeks on sale. Another new release, Mario & Luigi: Brothership, narrowly missed the top ten at number 11 and is the slowest-selling Mario RPG in the past 12 months, with sales 16% lower than Paper Mario: The Thousand Year Door and 19% behind Super Mario RPG. In terms of hardware, nearly 270,000 consoles were sold in November, an 85% increase from October but a 45% decline from the same period in 2023. The decline is largely due to the absence of Black Friday data, which saw strong console sales, including more PS5s sold than the previous year. The new PS5 Pro console accounted for 26% of all PS5 sales in November. Additionally, 1.05 million accessories were sold, a 58% increase from October but an 18% decline from the same time last year. The top-selling accessories remain the DualSense controllers, with the White edition at number one and the Midnight Black edition at number two.