PS5 and Xbox Series X sales jump in quiet May | UK Monthly Charts
Christopher Dring
Head of Games B2B
Tuesday 7th June 2022
GfK
Interactive Software Federation of Europe
Over 1.6 million games, 100,000 games consoles and 460,000 accessories were sold in the UK during May.
It was a tough month for the market overall. There were no major game releases last month, and as a result, sales were down 22% over May last year (which saw the release of Resident Evil: Village). 1.63 million digital and physical games were sold during May, GSD data reveals.
Compared with April, game sales are down 32%. April's biggest game was Lego Star Wars: The Skywalker Saga, and the Warner Bros game was still No.1 in May, despite sales falling 87% month-on-month.
Although Lego Star Wars was the overall No.1, in terms of pure physical retail sales, Nintendo Switch Sports was No.1 (Nintendo doesn't share digital data). And in the digital charts, FIFA 22 was No.1.
The highest charting new game is Sniper Elite 5 at No.12, although this also only counts physical sales.
It's been a tough year for console sales in the UK, primarily due to a lack of stock for PS5 and Xbox Series X. There's also been a decline for Nintendo Switch, although the console continues to comfortably sell more than it was managing pre-pandemic.
Overall, console sales are down 38.3% so far this year.
However, there is some signs of improvement, particularly for PS5. The platform is sitting in third place this year due to severe stock shortages between January and March. But that has picked up significantly over the last two months, and May is the console's biggest month of the year so far, with sales up 10% over April.
Xbox Series X and S had a slow April, but things have picked up in May, with sales up 58% month-on-month (primarily thanks to the Series
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