ERA LTD Report 2022 UK Market: PS5 (0.8M), XBS (0.7M), NSW (0.9M), Top 20 Software sales

[enpleinjour]

https://eraltd.org/media/72551/2023-era-yrbk.pdf

SOFTWARE PHYSICAL:

• Nintendo : 6.6M
• Playstation: 5.3M (3M PS5)
• Xbox: 1.5M (0.9M Xbox)
• PC : 0M

78% PS:XB physical split

SOFTWARE DIGITAL:

• Console+PC full games : 62M

82.3% digital ratio for full games including PC
66% digital ratio by revenue for full games including PC

 

[Himura Kenshin]

We got the physical software platform split, it would be equally as useful if we got the digital software platform split as well. Any reason why that isn't provided?

 

[enpleinjour]

We got the physical software platform split, it would be equally as useful if we got the digital software platform split as well. Any reason why that isn't provided?

They have the data, they won't detail the splits. GSD also hasn't provided the digital splits ever for any GamePass Day1 game for the past 2 years afaik.

I'm afraid we may be approaching another NPD situation where publishers/platform holders may be pressuring for less data revealed to public. I think that's what happened to NPD.

 

[Bernd Lauert]

We got the physical software platform split, it would be equally as useful if we got the digital software platform split as well. Any reason why that isn't provided?

It would be way more useful, actually. Physical sales are decreasing every year and thus becoming more and more irrelevant.

 

[1st_horseman]

It would be way more useful, actually. Physical sales are decreasing every year and thus becoming more and more irrelevant.

Maybe on Xbox, but on PS and Nintendo platforms is still a thing. And it will be for a long time

 

[AHA-Lambda]

Seems so strange Steam is 50% of digital purchases in uk but pc download sakes is only 5% of digital market?

What do these stats suggest is PC’s place relative to console in UK?

 

[Welfare]

Using the 2022 YTD changes on CESA 2021 data

2022
NSW: ~880K
PS5: ~770K
XBS: ~720K

Edit: Oh wait, waking up, they say Switch sold 880K, PS5 sold 780K, XBS 723K.

LTD
NSW: 6.04M
PS5: 2.38M
XBS: 1.88M

 

[Celine]

The average price for digital full-software is almost 60% cheaper than the average price for physical full-software (£15.19 vs £36.47)

 

[enpleinjour]

The average price for digital full-software is almost 60% cheaper than the average price for physical full-software (£15.19 vs £36.47)

Digital includes digital only games, such as Indie games. Its also why there is a big disparity in digital revenue vs physical revenue and digital units vs physical units

 

[fiendcode]

Digital includes digital only games, such as Indie games. Its also why there is a big disparity in digital revenue vs physical revenue and digital units vs physical units

Can you source where indies are included in digital? I was under the impression GfK operated similarly to NPD's (mainly packaged) publisher program for sharing digital, meaning it cuts out virtually every indie pub?

 

[AHA-Lambda]

Always thought PC gaming was rather “soft” in the UK, looks it to me from this?

The figures kinda suggest it between the Elden Ring split, the pc top 20 chart being far smaller in units than console, and 5% of market value compared to console at 25% across digital and physical
But Steam is 50% of digital transactions so idk…

 

[Neo_arcadia7]

Do we have this data available for 2020 & 2021?

 

[awng782]

Do we have this data available for 2020 & 2021?

Yes

2020: https://eraltd.org/media/50996/2021-era-yrbk_complete_pdf_version-2.pdf
2021: https://eraltd.org/media/72514/2022-era-yearbook_interactive.pdf

 

[Neo_arcadia7]

Yes

2020: https://eraltd.org/media/50996/2021-era-yrbk_complete_pdf_version-2.pdf
2021: https://eraltd.org/media/72514/2022-era-yearbook_interactive.pdf

Thanks a ton! I hate to ask but anything after 2020 as well? If not no worries.

 

[awng782]

Thanks a ton! I hate to ask but anything after 2020 as well? If not no worries.

Unfortunately no, at least not any report that is free.

I found this related to 2019 but the info it gives on the games industry is very slim:

https://eraltd.org/media/50960/2020-yearbook_stats_p22-35.pdf

 

[awng782]

UK YTD sales for several franchises over the years:

FIFA:
2020 - FIFA 21: 2237K, FIFA 20: 904K
2021 - FIFA 22: 2339K, FIFA 21: 602K
2022 - FIFA 23: 2530K, FIFA 22: 568K

Call of Duty:
2020 - Cold War: 1529K, MW2019: 900K
2021 - Vanguard: 975K, Cold War: 549K, MW2019: 111K (console digital only)
2022 - MWII: 1675K, Vanguard: 91K (console digital only)

GTAV:
2020 - 1249K
2021 - 967K
2022 - 816K

RDRII:
2020 - 437K
2021 - 396K
2022 - 355K

Mario Kart 8 Deluxe, retail only:
2017 - 352K
2018 - 459K
2019 - 465K
2020 - 428K
2021 - 600K
2022 - 427K

AnimL Crossing New Horizons, retail only:
2020 - 811K
2021 - 457K
2022 - 210K

 

[enpleinjour]

• The end of physical is hugely overstated. We hava a 66% digital ratio by revenue including PC, which is pretty much entirely digital. Consoles specifically, physical sales revenue could be closer to 50%.
• Elden Ring PC split is suprisingly low in the UK, ~21%. EU wide split at launch month with digital was 44% PC
• You can get a general idea of the Series X and Series S split by looking at revenue:
  • £243M/0.7M = £347 avg price
  • 0.485(£450) + 0.515(£250) = 347
  • 51.5% S vs 48.5% X
  • Bit more nuanced as hardware revenue excludes bundled game and accessories

2019 is missing

• EA is untouchable with FIFA, and they got big IPs like Star Wars, F1 and BattleField
• ATVI has had a big decline since becoming COD only
  • Vanguard had an atrocious 2nd year drop
    • [2021] - 0.975
    • [2022] - <0.176 -> ~ -80%
  • Even MW2 feels disappointing. MW19 was 1.2M in physical alone
  • I do not see MW2 having the extraordinary legs of MW19 either
• Ubisoft has declined 80%+ due to no big AAA releases this year
• Nintendo, up ~100% since 2017, is likely to cement itself as No.2 even without digital.
• Sony, up ~50%, 2022 was PS studios best year so far, on par with ATVI and T2
• Xbox is just Minecraft

 

[Xevross]

Some really interesting numbers here. Elden Ring almost tripled its first week, which is not bad for how hyped it was. Great end of year total. Lego Star Wars even bigger than I expected, great performance.

Sony's games all doing well with GOW in particular being very strong. But you can clearly see the effect of bundles, especially on Horizon.

Nintendo's physical performance is unreal. Strong year for Pokemon as well.

 

[Baki]

GTA V is immortal. Sold more than GoW despite being 10 years old. Insane.

 

[Xevross]

GTA V is immortal. Sold more than GoW despite being 10 years old. Insane.

It is unbelievable how it keeps selling, but the average price it sells for nowadays is like £10 so GoW will have made about 5x the revenue.

 

[MrTired]

GTA V is immortal. Sold more than GoW despite being 10 years old. Insane.

Cheapest way to get Shark Card.

 

[1st_horseman]

Sony's games all doing well with GOW in particular being very strong. But you can clearly see the effect of bundles, especially on Horizon.

It's a win win. Always. I dunno why from the start of this generation all of a sudden game bundled with console must be mentioned at all costs. Very specifically :/
Anyway, you can bet that Sony will sell a truckloads of Spiderman 2 PS5 bundles this year. Just like it was for Spiderman 1. But back then, 5 years ago NO ONE even mentioned Spidey sold good because bundles. :/

 

[Baki]

It's a win win. Always. I dunno why from the start of this generation all of a sudden game bundled with console must be mentioned at all costs. Very specifically :/
Anyway, you can bet that Sony will sell a truckloads of Spiderman 2 PS5 bundles this year. Just like it was for Spiderman 1. But back then, 5 years ago NO ONE even mentioned Spidey sold good because bundles. :/

Bundles are only worth mentioning if the game is effectively free with the bundle. If people have to pay extra to get the game with the bundle, then I don't think it's worth mentioning.

Cheapest way to get Shark Card.

Genius R* move.

 

[1st_horseman]

Bundles are only worth mentioning if the game is effectively free with the bundle. If people have to pay extra to get the game with the bundle, then I don't think it's worth mentioning.

Yeah, but official Horizon PS5 bundle costed more than vanilla PS5 and peeps payed extra for it and yet it is still mentioned on forums "Horizon sold because bundles". :/

 

[fiendcode]

Bundles are only worth mentioning if the game is effectively free with the bundle. If people have to pay extra to get the game with the bundle, then I don't think it's worth mentioning.

The PS5 bundles aren't "free" in that sense but with how incredibly supply constrained the platform was last year, some bundles will have been bought without wanting the games anyway.

 

[NediarPT88]

Chris said Horizon bundles represented 43% of all PS5 sales between May and September last year (@Xevross estimated it should be around 108k copies in this post).

So we are looking at 20% of sales coming from the official bundle give or take. Was expecting digital to be higher since it was ~50% at launch iirc.

Bundle % in UK seems to be a bit higher than the rest of EU since Chris shared on twitter that Horizon bundle sales were less than 15% of the total sales.

 

[Baki]

Chris said Horizon bundles represented 43% of all PS5 sales between May and September last year (@Xevross estimated it should be around 108k copies in this post).

So we are looking at 20% of sales coming from the official bundle give or take. Was expecting digital to be higher since it was ~50% at launch iirc.

Bundle % in UK seems to be a bit higher than the rest of EU since Chris shared on twitter that Horizon bundle sales were less than 15% of the total sales.

Physical games are much cheaper than digital in the UK. Especially on the long tail.

 

[NediarPT88]

Physical games are much cheaper than digital in the UK.

Yeah physical sales are great in the UK. I imported quite a few games from there throughout the years even with the pound being considerably stronger than the euro.

 

[Baki]

Yeah physical sales are great in the UK. I imported quite a few games from there throughout the years even with the pound being considerably stronger than the euro.

It's the grocery stores. They keep things competitive.

 

[allan-bh]

Pretty disappointing year for PS5 after selling 1.2 million in 2021, supply was poor.

Xbox had a lower drop due to Series S being widely available, but still the lack of Series X hurted sales.

 

[Xevross]

Pretty disappointing year for PS5 after selling 1.2 million in 2021, supply was poor.

Xbox had a lower drop due to Series S being widely available, but still the lack of Series X hurted sales.

Series X wasn't too hard to find in the UK last year.

It's a win win. Always. I dunno why from the start of this generation all of a sudden game bundled with console must be mentioned at all costs. Very specifically :/
Anyway, you can bet that Sony will sell a truckloads of Spiderman 2 PS5 bundles this year. Just like it was for Spiderman 1. But back then, 5 years ago NO ONE even mentioned Spidey sold good because bundles. :/

Sure there's no need to mention the bundles all the time but it's interesting to point out here as you can see how different the digital ratios are.

I've never made any kind of comment that bundles don't count or anything like that, each of the horizon bundles means £60 extra revenue and people will most likely play the game, with probably a good chunk of the sales from people who would have bought it anyway. But when you match digital ratios you can get a rough idea what the natural demand was without the bundles, which is always interesting to learn.

 

[SoonyXboneUhh]

Horizon Forbidden West at 22% digital and Gran Turismo 7 at 44%, show the difference bundle copies can make.
God of War exactly in the middle.

Overall hardware is so bad.
Let's see if Sony can carry 2023. Maybe even Microsoft can have some stock and sales in H2. Otherwise we could see another overall slight decline.

 

[1st_horseman]

Pretty disappointing year for PS5 after selling 1.2 million in 2021, supply was poor.

Xbox had a lower drop due to Series S being widely available, but still the lack of Series X hurted sales.

Sure for PS5 because lack of supply back then, but XSX was readily available constantly at biggest UK game retailer GAME

So we are looking at 20% of sales coming from the official bundle give or take. Was expecting digital to be higher since it was ~50% at launch iirc.

Bundle % in UK seems to be a bit higher than the rest of EU since Chris shared on twitter that Horizon bundle sales were less than 15% of the total sales.

I've never made any kind of comment that bundles don't count or anything like that, each of the horizon bundles means £60 extra revenue and people will most likely play the game, with probably a good chunk of the sales from people who would have bought it anyway. But when you match digital ratios you can get a rough idea what the natural demand was without the bundles, which is always interesting to learn.

Horizon Forbidden West at 22% digital and Gran Turismo 7 at 44%, show the difference bundle copies can make.
God of War exactly in the middle.

Yes

 

[Spiegel]

Series X wasn't too hard to find in the UK last year.

Sure there's no need to mention the bundles all the time but it's interesting to point out here as you can see how different the digital ratios are.

I've never made any kind of comment that bundles don't count or anything like that, each of the horizon bundles means £60 extra revenue and people will most likely play the game, with probably a good chunk of the sales from people who would have bought it anyway. But when you match digital ratios you can get a rough idea what the natural demand was without the bundles, which is always interesting to learn.

It's a bit harder to get a conclusion about natural demand because, for example, one person interested in Horizon that gets the game in a bundle is probably not going to buy the game digitally even if it usually purchases the games on PSN. And that's a +1 for physical and a -1 for digital.


Not discounting that the bundle pushed Horizon to sell many more units than it usually would have. That much is certain.

 

[Fatih_656]

But 20%- of Horizon's sales across Europe were part of a bundle
possibly even higher in asia and possibly lower in USA
Let's look at Mario Kart 8(most bundled game for Switch)
in FY22 (Apr. ’21 ~ Mar. ’22) it sold 9.94M
*Software sales units for FY22 include the quantity bundled with hardware (1.50 million units).
this is from their financial report
It is %15 if you think all 1.5M is from Mario Kart

 

[1st_horseman]

But 20%- of Horizon's sales across Europe were part of a bundle
possibly even higher in asia and possibly lower in USA
Let's look at Mario Kart 8(most bundled game for Switch)
in FY22 (Apr. ’21 ~ Mar. ’22) it sold 9.94M
*Software sales units for FY22 include the quantity bundled with hardware (1.50 million units).
this is from their financial report
It is %15 if you think all 1.5M is from Mario Kart

And i don't see a problem with bundles. It's a win win

 

[Fatih_656]

And i don't see a problem with bundles. It's a win win

Who said it is problem?

There's a difference between saying the bundle is inflating its numbers and saying it's a problem.

 

[acezam]

Average selling price of games rose nearly 7% in the UK last year

We also reveal the digital share of the biggest games of 2022

www.gamesindustry.biz

UK | 2022 | Digital+Retail | GFK/GSD

 

[Welfare]

Yeah, but official Horizon PS5 bundle costed more than vanilla PS5 and peeps payed extra for it and yet it is still mentioned on forums "Horizon sold because bundles". :/

They paid more for it because it was the only option or they couldn't get a PS5.

Same is true for the God of War bundle in the US. From November to today the only option for most days was just the bundle. Only recently have the core units been more available.

 

[Bernd Lauert]

• The end of physical is hugely overstated. We hava a 66% digital ratio by revenue including PC, which is pretty much entirely digital. Consoles specifically, physical sales revenue could be closer to 50%.

Physical software revenue 2022: £488.6m
Digital software revenue 2022: £724.7m

The caveat here is that they don't have any Nintendo published game revenue numbers for digital (this includes all the Nintendo first party games + Minecraft), so in reality digital revenue must be higher.

So it's 40% physical (actually lower with the caveat above). Doesn't sound bad until you realize that physical games are more than twice as expensive on average, so the amount of games sold is rather low. And the number is getting lower every year.

 

[enpleinjour]

IMO, the biggest disappointment here is COD MW2. 2007-2010 next year sales (catalogue) were estimated using current yoy drop ratios, and 2018,19 COD digital was estimated using prior and next year digital ratios.

• I thought MW2 would reach or even best MW19 heights. Insead MW19 may have outsold it in the region of 60%+
  • MW2 - 1.675M
  • MW19 - 2.65M (1.19M physical, estimated 50% digital (MW19 in 2020 had 60%+ digital))
• And I do not see the legs for MW2 being nearly as strong as MW19, mainly due to player reception and more competition
• COD Vanguard was the first time the series had a new entry do <1M since 2007 (from the data we have available at least), when the series first started to blow up.
• On top of this COD Vanguard had a disastrous drop of 80% the next year, versus ~65% for MW19 or BOCW
• Warzone is a reason but MW19 was at the height of Warzone and still sold incredibly well due to having a great campaign and traditional COD MP mode.
• It could be a worrying situation for ATVI, as Vanguard could be representative of a non-MW/BO COD game from now on.
• Big question is how representative this is of the US, COD's main market.

Physical software revenue 2022: £488.6m
Digital software revenue 2022: £724.7m

The caveat here is that they don't have any Nintendo published game revenue numbers for digital (this includes all the Nintendo first party games + Minecraft), so in reality digital revenue must be higher.

So it's 40% physical (actually lower with the caveat above). Doesn't sound bad until you realize that physical games are more than twice as expensive on average, so the amount of games sold is rather low. And the number is getting lower every year.

That 60% includes PC, which is ~100% digital and the PC digital ecosystem is big.

For consoles the digital/physical revenue split is going to a lot closer to 50% which really cracks the narrative that physical is dying. Near half of the money made by full game sales on consoles comes from physical copies. Even with Nintendo digital added, its still a huge amount of revenue.

 

[1st_horseman]

They paid more for it because it was the only option or they couldn't get a PS5.

No, there was a vanilla PS5 besides HFW bundle for 500$. HFW bundle wasn't the only choice.

 

[awng782]

I thought MW2 would reach or even best MW19 heights. Insead MW19 may have outsold it in the region of 60%+

• MW2 - 1.675M
• MW19 - 2.65M (1.19M physical, estimated 50% digital (MW19 in 2020 had 60%+ digital))

I don't think MW19's digital share was that high in 2019. It's launch week sales were ~40% digital and that percentage typically drops during the holiday weeks (its digital share then spiked when Covid lockdowns took place in early 2020, which also happened to correspond with the launch of the original Warzone).

With that being said, it has become apparent that Call of Duty will likely never reach its 2009-2012 peak in the UK ever again if MWII couldn't do it.

 

[Bernd Lauert]

That 60% includes PC, which is ~100% digital and the PC digital ecosystem is big.

For consoles the digital/physical revenue split is going to a lot closer to 50% which really cracks the narrative that physical is dying. Near half of the money made by full game sales on consoles comes from physical copies. Even with Nintendo digital added, its still a huge amount of revenue.

No, the 60% does not include PC. PC digital revenue is an extra £216.8m.

 

[Astral_lion02]

In 2018 FIFA 19 sold 2,5M including digital.

In 2019 retail sales dropped from 1,9M to 1,5M and digital is unknown.

In 2020 FIFA 21 sold 2,2M including digital.

So COD MW19 selling 2,65M in 2019 is virtualy impossible.

 

[SSN]

What's the accuracy of these numbers? I'm having some doubts about them.

Also GOW Ragnarök is slightly below my expectations. I was expecting something like ~800K for it. I don't how it has a digital ratio of just 34%?? IIRC Chris mentioned a few weeks ago that its DD was >50% .
Maybe he wasn't taking bundles into consideration....?

 

[Welfare]

No, there was a vanilla PS5 besides HFW bundle for 500$. HFW bundle wasn't the only choice.

Yeah, and in that picture it shows the standard units sold out, meaning that anyone that wanted a PS5 after thar would need to buy the bundle.

Looking at Amazon for July 2022, the Horizon bundle had more units available than the core. https://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/bestsel...ef=zg_bsar_pg_2/ref=zg_bsar_pg_2?ie=UTF8&pg=2

This is when PS5 was still in its "every unit is selling out" phase.

 

[Xevross]

What's the accuracy of these numbers? I'm having some doubts about them.

Also GOW Ragnarök is slightly below my expectations. I was expecting something like ~800K for it. I don't how it has a digital ratio of just 50%?? IIRC Chris mentioned a few weeks ago that its DD was >50% .
Maybe he wasn't taking bundles into consideration....?

They are about as accurate as any numbers you'll see on this forum outside of publishers/ platform holders officially announcing their sales and financial results.

In general in the UK digital share drops after first week as physical copies are found much cheaper, then later in life digital share will rise again as there are good digital discounts etc.

For GOWR there is also the effect of bundles which became particularly prominent later in the holidays.

 

[fiendcode]

I guess i'll ask again, where is the source for which companies participate with GfK on digital?

No, the 60% does not include PC. PC digital revenue is an extra £216.8m.

How valuable even is a PC digital figure that potentially excludes Valve, Tencent, Riot, Krafton, Roblox, Nexon, etc, etc?

 

[Baki]

They paid more for it because it was the only option or they couldn't get a PS5.

Same is true for the God of War bundle in the US. From November to today the only option for most days was just the bundle. Only recently have the core units been more available.

Bundles only account for 20% of Horizon sales. Talking about bundles is not productive and borders on concern trolling. You won’t see the same folks talk about bundles when it comes to MK8 sales.