Nintendo Switch and The Legend of Zelda dominated May | UK Monthly Charts
The UK games market in May was driven by the launch of one particularly big Nintendo Switch game.
The Legend of Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom was comfortably the No.1 game in May (GSD data), and that's without Nintendo sharing digital data with the GSD charts (Nintendo is the only major company that currently withholds these figures).
It's the biggest Zelda game launch in UK history, and its lifetime sales have already surpassed most previous games in the series. It only sits behind 2006's Twilight Princess and 2017's Breath of the Wild.
The success of Zelda fired the software market in May, with game sales up nearly 30% compared with the same period last year, leading to over 2.17 million titles sold. There was no major game released in May 2022.
The other significant release of May this year was Hogwarts Legacy, which arrived on older generation platforms following its huge launch on PC, PS5 and Xbox Series S and X in February. 53% of the game's sales were on PS4 during May, with 24% on Xbox One, with the remainder coming on the current generation machines.
The other new release in the charts is LEGO 2K Drive, which crossed the finishing line at No.19.
The Legend of Zelda also had a big impact in the console hardware space, too. According to GfK panel data, just under 96,000 consoles were sold last month. That's actually a 10% drop over May last year, and 14% down on April.
Nintendo Switch ended PS5's four-month run as the UK's No.1 console, taking the top spot despite a 5% dip in sales month-on-month. However, Switch sales are up 28% over May last year.
Why are Switch sales down over April considering Zelda launched in May? Well, the Tears of the Kingdom Special Edition OLED Switch actually arrived in April.
Read more on gamesindustry.biz
