Console sales in the UK jumped 148% in January compared to the year before.
Charts specialist GfK reveals that over 150,000 games machines were sold during the last month. The Xbox Series machines sold best for the first time, followed by Nintendo Switch. Nintendo Switch sales were up 21% over the same period the year before. PS5 is narrowly behind in third place, though it should be noted that the machine was almost entirely out of stock during the first two weeks of the year.
Indeed, PS5 and Xbox Series S and X are severely supply constrained, and their sales performance is largely decided by how many units are released at retail during any given period.
The more expensive PS5 and Xbox Series machines means that the revenue from games consoles rose 251% over the year before.
In terms of the games themselves, 941,672 boxed games were sold in the UK during January, which is an increase of 7% over the same period the year before. Over £30m was generated by the physical software market in January, which is up 16% over January 2020.
It was Animal Crossing: New Horizons that was the best-selling game of the month, ahead of Mario Kart 8 Deluxe at No.2 and Grand Theft Auto 5 at No.3. The best-selling new release was Hitman 3 at No.12. Nintendo was the top publisher once again, while Nintendo Switch accounted for more than half of all the boxed games sold last month.
Xbox Series S/X was the No.1 console of January | UK Monthly GfK Charts | GamesIndustry.biz