UK Game Sales See 26% Increase in March, Driven by Helldivers 2

The UK gaming market experienced a significant surge in sales during March, with a total of 3.65 million PC and console games sold, representing a 26% increase from the same period in 2023. According to GSD data, which tracks physical and digital sales from major publishers, Helldivers 2 maintained its top position as the best-selling video game for the second consecutive month. The game's sales are now outpacing those of Spider-Man 2, Sony's previous major release, after eight weeks. This can be attributed to Helldivers 2's lower price point and availability on both PC and console. The game continues to demonstrate impressive staying power, consistently ranking near the top of the charts. March saw the release of two highly anticipated Japanese RPGs, Final Fantasy VII: Rebirth and Dragon's Dogma 2. Although Final Fantasy VII: Rebirth was technically released in February, it was included in the March data. Dragon's Dogma 2 debuted at number three, narrowly edging out Final Fantasy VII: Rebirth, which secured the fifth position. Notably, Dragon's Dogma 2 had only been on the market for two weeks when the data was compiled. WWE 2K24 also had a strong start, with sales 8% higher than the previous year's game after four weeks. The charts were dominated by Command & Conquer titles, following the release of a 17-title bundle on Steam in March. Two of the games, Generals and Red Alert 2, made it to the top ten, with ten games in total featuring in the top 20. As a result, new releases such as Rise of Ronin and Princess Peach: Showtime were pushed down the charts. In terms of hardware sales, the UK market saw a decline, with just over 117,000 games consoles sold in March, representing a 15% decrease from the same period last year. However, this decline was expected due to the full availability of PS5 in the previous year, which had caused a significant boost in sales. The Nintendo Switch, now in its eighth year on the market, is also showing signs of aging. PS5 sales increased by 25% from February but decreased by 9% compared to March last year, securing the top position for the month. Nintendo Switch sales rose by 20% month-on-month but fell by 20% year-on-year, narrowly missing the second position, which was taken by Xbox Series S and X. The sales of accessories saw an upswing, with 732,584 units sold in the UK during March, representing a 20% increase from February and a 16% increase from March last year. The White DualSense controller dropped to third, while the Midnight Black version jumped to the top. The Starlight Blue DualSense controller experienced the largest increase, rising 13 places to sixth. The PlayStation Portal and Xbox Astral Purple Controller also saw significant gains, moving up six and nine places, respectively. The new pink Joy-Cons for Switch debuted at number 52. GfK games boss Dorian Bloch provided further insight into the sales of accessories, stating that the controller category is performing well, driven by PS5 joypads and revenue. The Dualsense Edge is the second-best-selling joypad by revenue on PS5, behind the Dualsense White, despite its higher price point. Bloch also noted that gaming mice and keyboards have seen significant growth, with Logitech dominating the mice market and the Trust GXT-830 and GXT-865 leading the keyboard sales. The GSD digital data includes games from participating companies sold via PC digital stores, Xbox Live, PlayStation Network, and Nintendo Eshop, with major participating companies including Activision Blizzard, Bandai Namco, and Electronic Arts.