by Just over 4.3 million games were sold in the UK in November, down 7.3% from a year earlier, according to the latest GSD figures.
One of the main reasons for this is Call of Duty. This year, Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2 launched in October, while the Activision Blizzard game released in November last year.
Despite this, Call of Duty was by far the biggest game of the month in November. In fact, with only four weeks on sale, Modern Warfare 2 almost surpassed Call of Duty: Vanguard’s lifetime sales.
Call of Duty’s closest rival is Sony’s God of War Ragnarok. It’s been a massive launch for the PS5 and PS4 game. Compared to the first three weeks of its predecessor – the God of War 2018 reboot – sales are up 44%.
The second largest series of releases are Pokémon Scarlet and Violet. If the two games had been combined together with the brace, the games would have been number 3 on the charts. As a game published by Nintendo, no digital data is available, so it’s possible (even likely) that the game would have finished #2 had download numbers been available. It is the second largest Pokémon game release in UK history, behind Pokémon Sun and Moon on the 3DS.
Other notable releases include Football Manager 2023 at #6. The game’s sales are down 30% compared to when the 2022 edition launched.
Just behind it is another Sega release, Sonic Frontiers.
1.82 million of games sold were sold through digital download stores, down 10% from November 2021. 2.5 million games were sold through physical retail, down 4% year-on-year.
Switch comes out on top in competition month
Nintendo Switch has taken the lead in a big month for video game console sales.
Nearly 372,000 consoles were sold in November, a 113% month-on-month increase, GfK panel data shows. It’s the biggest month for console sales all year, although it’s still well below 2021 numbers.
After several months in third place, Nintendo Switch was the top-selling console due to a 175% jump in monthly sales. A special version of the Switch OLED featuring artwork from the new Pokémon Scarlet and Violet game was released in November. This version of the Switch accounted for 8% of all Switch consoles sold. There were also numerous Black Friday deals around the Switch.
Xbox Series S and X came close, but had to settle for second place after a 105% jump in sales. The Xbox Series S was a significant £60 off Black Friday and was the month’s best-selling single-console SKU.
A big surge in stock levels coupled with the blockbuster release of God of War Ragnarok sent PS5 sales up 71% month-on-month. A God of War bundle was the most popular PS5 console, accounting for nearly 38% of all PS5s sold in November.
The nine best-selling accessories were all controllers for the Xbox Series X and S or PS5. The PS5’s DualSense White controller took precedence over the Midnight Black version. Five Xbox controllers follow (Carbon Black, Shock Blue, Pulse Red, Robot White and Electric Jolt) before returning for the PS5 for the Starlight Blue DualSense (#8) and Cosmic Red variant (#9). . The tenth accessory is a charging station for the PS5 DualSense controllers.
Controllers were featured repeatedly throughout Black Friday, with discounts and bundles prominently advertised throughout the sale week.
GfK data shows that over 1.29 million accessories were sold last month, up 93% from October and 9.3% from November last year.
GSD UK November Top 20 Video Games (Digital + Physical)
| position | title |
|---|---|
| 1 | Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2 (Activision Blizzard) |
| 2 | God of War Ragnarok (Sony) |
| 3 | FIFA 23 (EA) |
| 4 | Pokémon Violet* (Nintendo) |
| 5 | Pokemon Crimson* (Nintendo) |
| 6 | Football Manager 2023 (Sega) |
| 7 | Sonic Frontiers (Sega) |
| 8th | Mario Kart 8: Deluxe (Nintendo)* |
| 9 | Grand Theft Auto 5 (Rockstar) |
| 10 | LEGO Star Wars: The Skywalker Saga (Warner Bros.) |
| 11 | Nintendo Switch Sport (Nintendo)* |
| 12 | Gotham Knights (Warner Bros.) |
| 13 | Red Dead Redemption 2 (Rockstar) |
| 14 | Horizon: Forbidden West (Sony) |
| fifteen | The Last of Us: Part 2 (Sony) |
| 16 | Animal Crossing: New Horizons (Nintendo)* |
| 17 | NBA 2K23 (2K Games) |
| 18 | LEGO Harry Potter Collection (Warner Bros.) |
| 19 | Minecraft: Nintendo Switch Edition* (Nintendo/Mojang) |
| 20 | Splatoon 3* (Nintendo) |
* Digital data not available
GSD Digital Data includes games from participating companies sold through Steam, Xbox Live, PlayStation Network and Nintendo Eshop. The main participating companies are Activision Blizzard, Bandai Namco, Capcom, Codemasters, Electronic Arts, Embracer Group (including Gearbox, Koch Media, Saber Interactive), Focus Entertainment, Konami, Marvelous Games, Microids, Microsoft (including Bethesda), Milestone, Nacon , Paradox Interactive, Quantic Dream, Sega, Sony, Square Enix, Take-Two, Ubisoft and Warner Bros. Nintendo and 505 Games are the most notable absentees, alongside smaller studios.
