EA Sports FC and The Last of Us Part 2 impress in tough January | UK Monthly Charts

gamesindustry.biz:

2.47 million games were sold in January in the UK, a drop of 3% over the same period last year.

This is based on GSD data, which tracks all physical game sales, and all digital sales from most major third-party publishers.

The sales were led by EA Sports FC 24. EA's previous football game, FIFA 23, also led the charts in January 2023, and EA Sports FC 24 actually had a better January than its predecessor.

Last year there wasn't a huge number of new releases (Dead Space Remake was the highest charting new release at No.4). However, there were a couple of new titles this time around.

The highest charting new release, at No.2, was The Last of Us Part 2: Remastered, which did very well and benefitted from a £10 upgrade offer (owners of the PS4 version could get the PS5 version for £10).

For its opening two weeks on the market, the game sold two and a half times more copies than The Last of Us Part 1, which launched in September 2022.

Also new in the charts is Tekken 8, which makes No.7. The data doesn't stretch back far enough to compare it to Tekken 7, but compared to last year's Street Fighter 6, Tekken's launch is over a third higher. Interestingly, the vast majority of Street Fighter 6's sales came via digital channels, whereas Tekken 8 still has a strong audience that prefers physical (at least by comparison).

Outside of the Top Ten, Ubisoft's Prince of Persia: The Lost Crown is at No.15, and Like A Dragon: Infinite Wealth comes in at No.23.

Console sales fall due to tough year-on-year comparisons

Nearly 111,000 games consoles were sold in January in the UK, GfK panel data shows.

This is a drop of 19% over last January, with all three main console platforms posting a drop in sales year-on-year. Xbox Series S and X sales were down 7%, PS5 sales were down 17% while Nintendo Switch sales were down 31%.

This year was always going to look tough in terms of comparisons, because last year saw PS5 and Xbox Series S and X become fully available in stores after a period of shortages,