UK 2024 yearly results: #1 FC 25 (2.1M) #2 COD BO6 (1.2M) #3 Hogwarts Legacy (0.9M) ; PS5 #1 (1.0M) ; NSW #2 (0.5M) ; XBS #3 (0.5M)

[Astral_lion02]

ERA PUBLISHES 25TH ANNUAL YEARBOOK

Latest edition provides definitive statistical guide to the performance of the music, video and games sectors in 2024
Entertainment market is nearly three times larger than in ERA’s first yearbook in 2000
Digital entertainment and retail association ERA today publishes its 25th anniversary edition of the ERA Yearbook, the definitive statistical guide to the performance of the music, video and games sectors.

It gives a detailed sector by sector readout on the data first revealed in its preliminary results announcement in January.

Evidence of the increasing accuracy of those preliminary numbers, produced just seven days after year-end, the confirmed finalised total for the year of £12,007m is within 0.01% of the preliminary total.

ERA CEO Kim Bayley said,
“The ERA Yearbook has over the past 25 years become an eagerly awaited reference work, and we are rightly proud of the achievements of our research and insight team led by Luke Butler which draws on data from at least six different providers to produce this definitive picture of the entertainment market.”
Entertainment market is nearly three times larger than in ERA’s first yearbook in 2000

A review of ERA’s first Yearbook published in 2000, including data for 1999 (see below), shows the dramatic changes in a sector which in those days was 100% physical, driven by the CD, the DVD, and the console game disc.

The combined music video and games sectors which were worth just £4,152.7m in 1999 reached £12,007m in 2024, nearly three times as much. The fastest growing sector over the period was games which was nearly six times as large in 2024 as it was in 1999.

ERA CEO Kim Bayley said,
“These numbers are a stark reminder of the work done by ERA’s digital and streaming members to provide a safe, attractive and modern alternative to the pirate services which dealt such a deadly blow to physical formats in the early 2000s. The fact that these new legal services committed to paying creators for their work now account for 93.2% of entertainment industry revenues is a measure of the positive benefits they have brought to fans and creators alike.”

All data avaible here => https://www.eraltd.org/yearbook

(OP to be updated latter)

UK 2023 Yearly results:

Database PAL Charts  Thread 'UK 2023 Sales Data: Hardware, Software, and Accessories numbers'

Mar 6, 2024

https://flipbook-livid.vercel.app/deploy/examples/assets/pdf/book.pdf

• Welfare
• Replies: 60
• Forum: The Market

• 

 

[Lelouch0612]

Thanks Astral_Lion.

All hardware is down between 20% and 30%, rough year for the market overall even if absolute numbers are not shameful at all.

Software has many standouts, Helldivers was a huge success and Warhammer really impresses.

Great legs on Hogwarts too.

 

[Ronin]

PS5 - 4,600,000
NSW - 7,250.000
Xbox Series - 2,570,000
PS4 - 7,723,000

LTD sales

 

[kazuyamishima]

The Last of Us Part II should be heading closer to 20m. units sold.

 

[Astral_lion02]

UK Hardware (GFK)

Console	This Year	Last Year	LTD
Playstation 5	0.96M	1.21M	4.55M
Nintendo Switch	0.52M	0.72M	7.28M
Xbox Series	0.46M	0.65M	3.03M
Playstation 4	0.01M	0.02M	7.72M
Total	1.95M	2.60M	-

The last time hardware drop bellow 2M in the UK was in 1996.

PS Portal sold 144k last year in the UK so that give an attach rate of 3% similar to US.

 

[Lelouch0612]

PS5 - 4,600,000
NSW - 7,250.000
Xbox Series - 2,570,000
PS4 - 7,723,000

LTD sales

I wonder whether the Switch will eventually edge out the PS4 in the UK.

I would say yes given it only needs ro replicate last year's numbers to reach that amount. By 2027, it should be the case.

 

[fiendcode]

I wonder whether the Switch will eventually edge out the PS4 in the UK.

I would say yes given it only needs ro replicate last year's numbers to reach that amount. By 2027, it should be the case.

Are there any other markets where Switch still lags PS4 that we know of?

 

[derby_440]

In UK TLOU2 sold ~850K as of 2023. Likely over 1m by end of 2024.

Half of remaster 201K is are probably upgrades looking at physical ratio. And normal edition which didn't chart likely sold ~50k. So 1m by end of 2024.

 

[awng782]

Are there any other markets where Switch still lags PS4 that we know of?

Probably most European countries (outside of France) and MENA.

 

[Lelouch0612]

Are there any other markets where Switch still lags PS4 that we know of?

Bruno mentioned Spain in the latest thread but it should be beaten in 2025 there.

 

[derby_440]

The Last of Us Part II should be heading closer to 20m. units sold.

Quite possible it may have passed 20m with help of Remaster. Going by IG leaks it sold ~17m by end of 2023.

 

[Kowalski]

Pretty good number for Astro Bot!

 

[Luminoth 4545]

PS5 - 4,600,000
NSW - 7,250.000
Xbox Series - 2,570,000
PS4 - 7,723,000

LTD sales

XBS was just over 2.5 million at the end of 2023, it should now be at a little over 3 million.

 

[Celine]

PS5 - 4,600,000
NSW - 7,250.000
Xbox Series - 2,570,000
PS4 - 7,723,000

LTD sales

Will NSW overtake PS4 in UK? If it sells just 480K more in its twilight it could happen...

Didn't expect NSW could overtake in UK (traditionally a weaker market for Nintendo compared to others big market in continental Europe).
France was quite ovious from a certain point in time and Spain too was in the run but UK?!

Wonder what's the situation in Germany and Italy.

 

[Luminoth 4545]

UK Lifetime Console Sales

Nintendo DS: 12.4M
Playstation 2: 10.0M
Xbox 360: 9.3M
Nintendo Wii: 8.4M
Playstation 4: 7.73M
Nintendo Switch: 7.29M
Playstation 1: 7.2M
Game Boy: 6.6M
Playstation 3: 6.0M
Xbox One: 5.86M
Game Boy Advance: 4.8M
Playstation 5: 4.56M
Playstation Portable: 3.9M
Nintendo 3DS: 3.9M
Megadrive: 3.5M
Xbox Series: 3.03M
Xbox: 2.2M
Super Nintendo: 2.0M
Nintendo 64: 1.6M
Nintendo ES: 1.5M
Master System: 1.5M
Gamecube: 1.2M
Playstation Vita: 740K
Game Gear: >600K
Dreamcast: 600K
Nintendo Wii U: 590K
Sega Saturn: 400K

 

[SoonyXboneUhh]

Xbox One hardware doubled, up 90% YoY
WOW!


Still incredible how much the PS2 and Xbox 360 sold in the UK. Those numbers will probably never be beaten.

 

[fiendcode]

Still incredible how much the PS2 and Xbox 360 sold in the UK. Those numbers will probably never be beaten.

Gen 7 was crazy in general, 40m between alll platforms. We'll definitely never see anything like that again.

 

[enpleinjour]

Physical vs Digital

• Console Full Game revenue: 34% Physical : 66% Digital
  • 28% Physical including PC

Console vs PC

• Full game revenue : 82% console, 18% PC
• Gaming hardware access. : 76% console, 24% PC
  • 1.55M PS accessories
  • 0.9M XB accessories
  • PS continues to take Xbox marketshare in the accessories market, 5% swing to PS.

ERA 2022	PC (1,000s)	Total (1,000s)	PC ratio
Elden Ring	181	865	0.21
GTAV	101	816	0.12
RDR	100	355	0.28
LEGO	69	817	0.08
ERA 2023
Hogwarts	225	1,921	0.12
Diablo 4	224	443	0.51
Jedi S	57	553	0.10
COD MW3	161	1,239	0.13
GTAV	135	616	0.22
RDR2	108	412	0.26
EAFC 24	61	2,396	0.03
ERA 2024
Hogwarts	74	877	0.08
COD BO6	137	1,163	0.12
HD2	285	693	0.41
Elden Ring	~50	263	0.19
GTAV	108	729	0.15
RDR2	79	349	0.23
EAFC 25	87	2,120	0.04
W40K SM2	86	320	0.27

• UK continues to be a market dominated by consoles. Even franchises that we expect to lean PC like HD2 or Warhammer have 40% or 27% PC ratio. No gains made on GTA,RDR,EA,COD share either. Elden Ring ratio has declined

Software

• ABK continues its decline however without to GP cannibilisation COD has made a bit of a rebound. BO6 is ~30% more popular than MW23 on PS. MW23 was near the all time low for COD (Vanguard levels) since it exploded on the scene in 2008. If we assumed no GP (we know the cannibilisation ratio for COD), BO6 would be ~20% less popular than MW22, around BOCW levels, but still a long way from the popularity during the PS360 days and MW19 days.
• EAFC ~10% decline as reported
• Warhammer did amazing
• Hogwarts is insane. Going to overtake FIFA LTDs at this point, only second to GTA or Mario Kart.

FF15 - <250,000 (phy only)
TR:SoTR - 226,125 (phy only)
Avengers - 380,596 (33.8%)
FF7R - < 320,000
GoTG - 192,576 (27.4%)
FF16 - <142,000
FF7R2 - <172,000

• I feel like FF7R2 and DD2 are close to the top 20, likely in the 140-60K range, but those are both bad results. UK market really not warming up to JPRGs unless its FROM.

Playstation

HD2 - 693,000
Astro Bot - 207,000
TLOU P2 - 201,000

• HD2 just eeks SM2 to become the best selling PS game ever in 1st year (though had many more months than SM2, GOWR).
• Astro Bot also did really good especially since it was only available for 4 months. Its significantly outpacing Ratchet Rift Apart.
• TLOU P2 continues with its resurgence on strong legs. Also charted last year with 180K and we have the new season this year. Current LTD should be ~1.1M. Thats reaching some COD LTDs on PS.
• Spiderman 2 is also probably close behind, 150-170K.

Overall very strong results for Playstation considering this was a "down year", as they continue to grow their publisher strength. They should be overtaking ABK soon, especially if acquisitions like FROM are made, and will only be behind EA (untouchable in UK markets) and T2 (going to be untouchable with GTA6).

2025

• Lots of big AAA titles coming and Nintendo bouncing back with NSW2, hopefully with some big titles.
• Expect Physical to be up a fair amount, would not be surprised if it hits 40%.
• Expect Console gaming software to be up big due to the AAA releases, GTA and NSW2.

 

[opaidiota]

Astro Bot also did really good especially since it was only available for 4 months

Happy for the game and for Team Asobi.

 

[Danny]

Interesting that it seems one area Nintendo consoles are way down compared to PS and Xbox in pretty much every country is accessory sales, it seems that many fewer Nintendo players buy accessories to Switch compared to PS and Xbox players. Not even stuff like Switch pro controller seems to sell much, in any market.

 

[Astral_lion02]

EA Sports FC 25 is the worst selling "FIFA" in the UK since FIFA 09.

FIFA sales have been very consistent in decades so it's only ~20% less than the reccord of FIFA 18 (2.7M) but I think it's still worth pointing out.

 

[Danny]

EA Sports FC 25 is the worst selling "FIFA" in the UK since FIFA 09.

FIFA sales have been very consistent in decades so it's only ~20% less the reccord of FIFA 18 (2.7M) but I think it's still worth pointing out.

And that is happening even though EA Sports FC is now on every major platform, now that it got ported to Switch as well.

 

[fiendcode]

Interesting that it seems one area Nintendo consoles are way down compared to PS and Xbox in pretty much every country is accessory sales, it seems that many fewer Nintendo players buy accessories to Switch compared to PS and Xbox players. Not even stuff like Switch pro controller seems to sell much, in any market.

Well, Switch already comes with two controllers.

Also there's about a billion different joycon colors and bundles and for some reason, unlike software or hardware, accessories seem to separate out to the SKU level (Circana does this too). Other big accessories like the leg strap are mostly bundled with and counted under software too.

 

[theprodigy]

hmm Astro Bot (and Spider-Man 2 last year) 45-46% digital?

 

[Astral_lion02]

I have bad news about the futur of monthly UK/EU reports.

This is what Chris Dring posted on X:

Unfortunately, GSD is changing how it's working with the media and I won't be doing those reports anymore. I do have some new data partnerships, but you'll have to wait for my new media brand to launch before we start seeing some of that (give it a few weeks)

Chris new website will probably share interesting data but EU/UK reports in their current form are dead.

GSD is the only one who have exact units sales of digital full games.
So for exemple to known how Monster Hunter Wilds have perform in Europe compared to Monster Hunter World we need GSD.

GFK have sales of physical products (hardware, software and accesories) but they give nothing when it come to digital.

Given that GSD rely a lot on publishers to work it's possible that this lack of transparency is linked to the market struggling.
After all lots of new releases struggle in 2024.

 

[Lynsen]

Chris Dring:

The PlayStation Portal sold over 140,000 units in the UK last year, making it the sixth best-selling accessory of the year and No.1 by revenue

To put this in context. Nintendo Switch sold just under half a million last year in the UK

Very interesting numbers from the UK

 

[Xevross]

My main take is that it's a pretty sad year. Hardware down across the board and software charts dominated by old games, with a lot of the big yearly games like COD and FIFA down from what they've achieved in the past.

Some bright spots for sure, Helldivers 2 for example. But overall not great.

 

[sir_crocodile]

UK Lifetime Console Sales

Nintendo DS: 12.4M
Playstation 2: 10.0M
Xbox 360: 9.3M
Nintendo Wii: 8.4M
Playstation 4: 7.73M
Nintendo Switch: 7.29M
Playstation 1: 7.2M
Game Boy: 6.6M
Playstation 3: 6.0M
Xbox One: 5.9M
Game Boy Advance: 4.8M
Playstation 5: 4.56M
Playstation portable: 3.9M
Nintendo 3DS: 3.9M
Megadrive: 3.5M
Xbox Series: 3.03M
Xbox: 2.2M
Super Nintendo: 2.0M
Nintendo 64: 1.6M
Nintendo ES: 1.5M
Master System: 1.5M
Gamecube: 1.2M
Playstation Vita: 740K
Game Gear: >600K
Dreamcast: 600K
Nintendo Wii U: 590K
Sega Saturn: 400K

Curious, where are the older numbers coming from here?

I've always been interested in NES vs Master System since a lot of places take it as assumed that MS beat the NES in the UK, but I always remember the NES having more shelf space/catalogue space back in the day pretty much everywhere. If your figures are correct and it ended up in a dead heat, then it bears out my expectation that NES outsold MS when the NES was still the primary platform of Nintendo (Nintendo dropped the NES like a stone as soon as the SNES came out while Sega kept supporting the MS so the MS will have probably gone on to close the gap at that time).

 

[Xevross]

UK Lifetime Console Sales

Nintendo DS: 12.4M
Playstation 2: 10.0M
Xbox 360: 9.3M
Nintendo Wii: 8.4M
Playstation 4: 7.73M
Nintendo Switch: 7.29M
Playstation 1: 7.2M
Game Boy: 6.6M
Playstation 3: 6.0M
Xbox One: 5.9M
Game Boy Advance: 4.8M
Playstation 5: 4.56M
Playstation portable: 3.9M
Nintendo 3DS: 3.9M
Megadrive: 3.5M
Xbox Series: 3.03M
Xbox: 2.2M
Super Nintendo: 2.0M
Nintendo 64: 1.6M
Nintendo ES: 1.5M
Master System: 1.5M
Gamecube: 1.2M
Playstation Vita: 740K
Game Gear: >600K
Dreamcast: 600K
Nintendo Wii U: 590K
Sega Saturn: 400K

One thing that's concerning is the gen on gen drop.

2017 PS4 - 1150k
2024 PS5 - 960k (down 190k)

2017 PS4 LTD - 5.32M
2024 PS5 LTD - 4.56M (760k behind)

2017 XB1 - 790k
2024 XBS - 460k (down 330k)

2017 XB1 LTD - 4.15M
2024 XBS LTD - 3.03M (1.12M behind)

2017 PS4+XB1 1940k
2024 PS5+XBS 1420k (down 520k)

2017 PS4+XB1 LTD 9.47M
2024 PS5+XBS LTD 7.59M (1.88M behind)

That is a rather huge decline. UK market is still very console driven as other have pointed out, but the dedicated console market is shrinking a lot this gen.

I think GTA6 will help in the UK more than pretty much any other country with this, look at how well GTAV still charts. But it can't make up that huge gap alone, not even close.

 

[Welfare]

Year	Switch	Switch LTD	PS5	PS5 LTD	XBS	XBS LTD
2017	700,000	700,000	-	-	-	-
2018	840,000	1,540,000	-	-	-	-
2019	950,000	2,490,000	-	-	-	-
2020	1,450,000	3,940,000	450,000	450,000	310,000	310,000
2021	1,220,000	5,160,000	1,150,000	1,600,000	850,000	1,160,000
2022	860,000	6,020,000	780,000	2,380,000	760,000	1,920,000
2023	720,000	6,740,000	1,210,000	3,590,000	650,000	2,570,000
2024	520,000	7,260,000	950,000	4,540,000	460,000	3,030,000

ASP

Year	Switch	PS5	XBS
2022	~£264	~£464	~£334
2023	~£260	~£436	~£323
2024	~£243	~£431	~£333

The average Switch purchase was ~£20 cheaper than 2 years ago, PS5 ~£30 cheaper than 2 years ago, and Xbox retains the same price.

RP of each console

Switch OLED: £309
Switch: £259
Switch Lite: £199

PS5 Pro: £699
PS5: £479
PS5 Digital: £389

Xbox Series X: £479
Xbox Series X Digital: £429
Xbox Series S 1TB: £299
Xbox Series S 512GB: £249

 

[enpleinjour]

One thing that's concerning is the gen on gen drop.

2017 PS4 - 1150k
2024 PS5 - 960k (down 190k)

2017 PS4 LTD - 5.32M
2024 PS5 LTD - 4.56M (760k behind)

2017 XB1 - 790k
2024 XBS - 460k (down 330k)

2017 XB1 LTD - 4.15M
2024 XBS LTD - 3.03M (1.12M behind)

2017 PS4+XB1 1940k
2024 PS5+XBS 1420k (down 520k)

2017 PS4+XB1 LTD 9.47M
2024 PS5+XBS LTD 7.59M (1.88M behind)

That is a rather huge decline. UK market is still very console driven as other have pointed out, but the dedicated console market is shrinking a lot this gen.

I think GTA6 will help in the UK more than pretty much any other country with this, look at how well GTAV still charts. But it can't make up that huge gap alone, not even close.

I see people saying this a lot, even so called analysts in the industry but the answer should be obvious, and we already have data that says that.

Firstly lets get the obvious one, PS4 at this point had £199 deals. PS5 is £200+ more, and this ties in with the macroeconomics of EU, US etc atm

But beyond that, imagine we have 5 sub services. The total subs for all 5 from consumers is 500M. Now if 3 of them drop out, whats going to happen to the total sub numbers? Its going to decrease, because multi-homing is a significant thing, and when competitors drop out, well you no longer need to multi-home, you can just get one service.

This is why Xbox dropping out will result in overall consoles sold dropping (assuming no growth). Multihoming exists for consoles.

And we know PS is actually growing.
Iphone sells 200-240M a year. But its active installbase is 1.5B.
Generational unit sales =/ installbase as consoles last longer than ever and are supported longer than ever.
There were around 8-10M PS3 active users at the start of the PS5 gen. Guarantee there will be more active PS4 users when PS6 launches.

Right now there are 30M more active Playstation console users than the PS4 gen.

 

[Himura Kenshin]

Interesting that it seems one area Nintendo consoles are way down compared to PS and Xbox in pretty much every country is accessory sales, it seems that many fewer Nintendo players buy accessories to Switch compared to PS and Xbox players. Not even stuff like Switch pro controller seems to sell much, in any market.

As far as the controllers go PS and Xbox controllers are also used on PC, so both of their reach can go beyond the console itself. As far as the other accessories does Nintendo even do premium headsets or anything like that? I feel like their only 'premium' accessory is the Pro Controller, which again, is not going to light it up on PC considering the competition.

 

[Luminoth 4545]

Curious, where are the older numbers coming from here?

CESA White book.

 

[Luminoth 4545]

One thing that's concerning is the gen on gen drop.

2017 PS4 - 1150k
2024 PS5 - 960k (down 190k)

2017 PS4 LTD - 5.32M
2024 PS5 LTD - 4.56M (760k behind)

2017 XB1 - 790k
2024 XBS - 460k (down 330k)

2017 XB1 LTD - 4.15M
2024 XBS LTD - 3.03M (1.12M behind)

2017 PS4+XB1 1940k
2024 PS5+XBS 1420k (down 520k)

2017 PS4+XB1 LTD 9.47M
2024 PS5+XBS LTD 7.59M (1.88M behind)

That is a rather huge decline. UK market is still very console driven as other have pointed out, but the dedicated console market is shrinking a lot this gen.

I think GTA6 will help in the UK more than pretty much any other country with this, look at how well GTAV still charts. But it can't make up that huge gap alone, not even close.

Maybe Switch has eaten a little into the PS/XB market, remember during the previous gen the Wii U didn't offer any competition.

 

[Neo_arcadia7]

Side note - PS direct (UK) is going to offer PS5 & accessories for rental. Pay per month.

 

[Phenom08]

Chris Dring:



Very interesting numbers from the UK

Sony is proving WiiU was brilliant just needed more software support . I keep telling you all, it was Nintendo's fault for WiiU failing.

 

[allan-bh]

My main take is that it's a pretty sad year. Hardware down across the board and software charts dominated by old games, with a lot of the big yearly games like COD and FIFA down from what they've achieved in the past.

Some bright spots for sure, Helldivers 2 for example. But overall not great.

Switch is very old, Microsoft is de-emphasizing hardware and PS5 past it's peak, so circumstances didn't helped 2024.

Switch 2 and GTA 6 (if not delayed) will bring some energy to the market this year.

 

[Xevross]

I see people saying this a lot, even so called analysts in the industry but the answer should be obvious, and we already have data that says that.

Firstly lets get the obvious one, PS4 at this point had £199 deals. PS5 is £200+ more, and this ties in with the macroeconomics of EU, US etc atm

But beyond that, imagine we have 5 sub services. The total subs for all 5 from consumers is 500M. Now if 3 of them drop out, whats going to happen to the total sub numbers? Its going to decrease, because multi-homing is a significant thing, and when competitors drop out, well you no longer need to multi-home, you can just get one service.

This is why Xbox dropping out will result in overall consoles sold dropping (assuming no growth). Multihoming exists for consoles.

And we know PS is actually growing.
Iphone sells 200-240M a year. But its active installbase is 1.5B.
Generational unit sales =/ installbase as consoles last longer than ever and are supported longer than ever.
There were around 8-10M PS3 active users at the start of the PS5 gen. Guarantee there will be more active PS4 users when PS6 launches.

Right now there are 30M more active Playstation console users than the PS4 gen.

Yeah I do obviously know about the huge difference in price, that is probably main reason for the big drop, but it doesn't wash away the fact we are seeing a big drop. It is Sony/ Microsoft's choice to be going with this pricing strategy, even though they are somewhat stuck between a rock and a hard place due to inflation and diminishing returns.

I don't think we have evidence of PS actually growing in the UK, you're using lots of worldwide figures there. Worldwide PS5 is essentially equal with PS4 launch-aligned but in the UK its only at 86%. That changes things, the UK picture is much worse than the worldwide picture and that's my main point. And yeah I agree Xbox all but giving up on consoles definitely doesn't help and the biggest decline is from the Xbox side of things, PS would never be able to pick up all that due to multi-console homes as you say.

Maybe Switch has eaten a little into the PS/XB market, remember during the previous gen the Wii U didn't offer any competition.

I think this is definitely a factor, but Wii+PS3+X360 was absolutely huge in the UK so there is clearly room for the numbers to grow and they don't neccessarily have to eat into each other's sales.

The flip side of this is that Switch has replaced the Nintendo handheld market so it should be selling a lot more to make up for that too. The DS was monumentally huge in the UK and you can see that Switch is nowhere close to that number, only about 59% of DS LTD sales when its at 98% of the DS LTD worldwide. That is perhaps an unfair comparison due to how much of a cultural phenomenon the DS was though, if you look at 3DS/ GB/ GBA vs Switch it's closer to the global picture.

 

[KarlRemarx]

Yeah I do obviously know about the huge difference in price, that is probably main reason for the big drop, but it doesn't wash away the fact we are seeing a big drop. It is Sony/ Microsoft's choice to be going with this pricing strategy, even though they are somewhat stuck between a rock and a hard place due to inflation and diminishing returns.

I don't think we have evidence of PS actually growing in the UK, you're using lots of worldwide figures there. Worldwide PS5 is essentially equal with PS4 launch-aligned but in the UK its only at 86%. That changes things, the UK picture is much worse than the worldwide picture and that's my main point. And yeah I agree Xbox all but giving up on consoles definitely doesn't help and the biggest decline is from the Xbox side of things, PS would never be able to pick up all that due to multi-console homes as you say.

I think this is definitely a factor, but Wii+PS3+X360 was absolutely huge in the UK so there is clearly room for the numbers to grow and they don't neccessarily have to eat into each other's sales.

The flip side of this is that Switch has replaced the Nintendo handheld market so it should be selling a lot more to make up for that too. The DS was monumentally huge in the UK and you can see that Switch is nowhere close to that number, only about 59% of DS LTD sales when its at 98% of the DS LTD worldwide. That is perhaps an unfair comparison due to how much of a cultural phenomenon the DS was though, if you look at 3DS/ GB/ GBA vs Switch it's closer to the global picture.

This is correct, and the underlying issue is that the overall UK consumer economy is simply awful compared to the pre-GFC economy (which 360/PS3/Wii/DS/PSP operated in) which was supportive of a much broader market. And in videogames in particular you went from a period where even supermarket chains were selling lots of console software (at significant launch discounts compared to specialist retailers too), to the overall collapse of the UK's physical software retailers. In such an environment PS4 and Switch in particular can perform relatively well (because they hit hardware price sweet spots in such an economy), alongside only the very biggest titles (which are the focal points of premium software sales in an environment of limited consumer spending), with much of what's left being lots of cheaper microtransactions in F2P software.

 

[Kmds]

Yeah I do obviously know about the huge difference in price, that is probably main reason for the big drop, but it doesn't wash away the fact we are seeing a big drop. It is Sony/ Microsoft's choice to be going with this pricing strategy, even though they are somewhat stuck between a rock and a hard place due to inflation and diminishing returns.

I don't think we have evidence of PS actually growing in the UK, you're using lots of worldwide figures there. Worldwide PS5 is essentially equal with PS4 launch-aligned but in the UK its only at 86%. That changes things, the UK picture is much worse than the worldwide picture and that's my main point. And yeah I agree Xbox all but giving up on consoles definitely doesn't help and the biggest decline is from the Xbox side of things, PS would never be able to pick up all that due to multi-console homes as you say.

The biggest problem Sony will face from this year onwards for the rest of the 2020s in my opinion will be combating against the Switch 2 in Europe. The fact that Switch has done so monstrously well and the PS5 is so expensive will definitely hurt the brand in Europe. This is in my opinion the hardest fight they will have where both Nintendo and Sony are equals in Europe. In Asia and the Americas, Nintendo is much bigger so there's no hope of PS5 ever beating Switch 2 or even coming close there.

I hope people don't misunderstand how HUGE it is that Switch will essentially tie PS4 in the UK.

 

[Astral_lion02]

To put in perspective what @Xevross said:

UK (GFK)

Through each console's first 50 months in the UK market (life to date ending Dec 2024 for both XBS and PS5), PS5 lifetime unit sales trails PS4 by 14%, while Xbox Series trails Xbox One by 27%.Through 38 months in the UK (through Dec 2023), PS5 trailed PS4 by 14% while Xbox Series trailed Xbox one by 24%.

USA (Circana)

Through each console's first 50 months in the US market (life to date ending Dec 2024 for both XBS and PS5), PS5 lifetime unit sales are 7% ahead of PS4's pace, while Xbox Series trails Xbox One by 18%.Through 38 months in the US (through Dec 2023), PS5 led PS4 by 6% while Xbox series trailed Xbox one by 13%.

Very different situations for the 2 strongest Xbox markets and including Nintendo would not be in favor of UK given Ninendo is much stronger in the US.

 

[Xevross]

To put in perspective what @Xevross said:

UK (GFK)


USA (Circana)


Very different situations for the 2 strongest Xbox markets and including Nintendo would not be in favor of UK given Ninendo is much stronger in the US.

Yeah the US picture is what you'd expect given the general economic conditions. Expensive consoles in a tougher time means a small total decrease, with PS slightly increasing to make up for Xbox's larger decline. Mostly down to slower conversion from past generation, which means active user base is still actually growing.

The UK picture is unhealthy, quite a large combined decrease with both consoles shrinking. Active user base on these consoles is quite likely to be shrinking.

The biggest problem Sony will face from this year onwards for the rest of the 2020s in my opinion will be combating against the Switch 2 in Europe. The fact that Switch has done so monstrously well and the PS5 is so expensive will definitely hurt the brand in Europe. This is in my opinion the hardest fight they will have where both Nintendo and Sony are equals in Europe. In Asia and the Americas, Nintendo is much bigger so there's no hope of PS5 ever beating Switch 2 or even coming close there.

I hope people don't misunderstand how HUGE it is that Switch will essentially tie PS4 in the UK.

Yeah excellent point. If Switch 2 is powerful enough to play most third party games to an acceptable quality then it really could eat into the PS/Xbox audience in a meaningful way if it's reasonably priced.

Switch 1 has already done very well and recovered the Nintendo console market in the UK despite being underpowered, more expensive than PS4 and missing a lot of third parties.

 

[Lelouch0612]

Yeah the US picture is what you'd expect given the general economic conditions. Expensive consoles in a tougher time means a small total decrease, with PS slightly increasing to make up for Xbox's larger decline. Mostly down to slower conversion from past generation, which means active user base is still actually growing.

The UK picture is unhealthy, quite a large combined decrease with both consoles shrinking. Active user base on these consoles is quite likely to be shrinking.

Keep in mind that in the early years, US supply was prioritized (given Xbox is competitive there).

So even before we saw real demand (we waited until 2023 for Europe), the picture was set.

 

[Kyougar]

Yeah the US picture is what you'd expect given the general economic conditions. Expensive consoles in a tougher time means a small total decrease, with PS slightly increasing to make up for Xbox's larger decline. Mostly down to slower conversion from past generation, which means active user base is still actually growing.

The UK picture is unhealthy, quite a large combined decrease with both consoles shrinking. Active user base on these consoles is quite likely to be shrinking.


Yeah excellent point. If Switch 2 is powerful enough to play most third party games to an acceptable quality then it really could eat into the PS/Xbox audience in a meaningful way if it's reasonably priced.

Switch 1 has already done very well and recovered the Nintendo console market in the UK despite being underpowered, more expensive than PS4 and missing a lot of third parties.

There is also the paradox argument going on between PS ecosystem versus Nintendo ecosystem.

1. "Switch 2 will not be in competition with PS5 because the PS5 is so much stronger."
2. "The Playstation audience didn't stagnate/shrink because there are still 40 million active PS4 gamers."

The Switch 2 will probably fall between the PS4 and PS5 power-wise.
And if the argument is, that the console Audience didn't shrink because there is still a significant audience on last gen, and now we count 2 generations as the active console audience (with a heavy amount of people still playing and getting supported on last gen, even getting new games on last gen):
Then, Nintendo will be in competition with the PS4 audience, trying to get them onto the Switch 2.

So any PS4 gamer shouldn't be taken for granted by Playstation. The Switch 2 could take out a big part of the audience who wants a next-gen console experience. (additionally to all the customers who switch to non-gaming, Mobile, and PC)

 

[salesguy]

Shrug. It's actually not horrendous for Xbox given everything. My boilerplate comment lol.

But then also kinda is because 2 or 3-1 for PS in USA and UK is kinda bad.

with xbox they now barely exert minimal effort, so i wouldn't even count on them having had basic stock available even at msrp over any period. (not living in UK I cant speak to it more than an assumption)

UK (GFK)
Through each console's first 50 months in the UK market (life to date ending Dec 2024 for both XBS and PS5), PS5 lifetime unit sales trails PS4 by 14%, while Xbox Series trails Xbox One by 27%.Through 38 months in the UK (through Dec 2023), PS5 trailed PS4 by 14% while Xbox Series trailed Xbox one by 24%.

USA (Circana)
Through each console's first 50 months in the US market (life to date ending Dec 2024 for both XBS and PS5), PS5 lifetime unit sales are 7% ahead of PS4's pace, while Xbox Series trails Xbox One by 18%.Through 38 months in the US (through Dec 2023), PS5 led PS4 by 6% while Xbox series trailed Xbox one by 13%.

Good summations imo. It really hasn't been the complete Armageddon for Xbox people make it out. As evidenced by LTD UK sales of ~4.5 PS5 and 3.0 XBS. But OTOH there is clear slippage.

PS Portal sold 144k last year in the UK so that give an attach rate of 3% similar to US.

I think this coulda been such a good product I just feel they botched the implementation.

 

[Astral_lion02]

On the basis of what is done with NPD, I have set a prediction thread for 2025 UK hardware for those that could be interested:

PAL Charts Predictions  Thread '2025 Full Year UK Hardware Predictions [CLOSED]'

Mar 7, 2025

This thread is for predictions of UK Hardware sales as reported by GFK for the entire 2025 year (the 52 weeks starting from December 29, 2024 and ending on December 28, 2025).

What is GFK?: GFK is one of the main retail tracking firms in the Europe, GFK track sales of physical video games products (retail software, hardware and accesories) across the region.

Prediction entries must be in and finalized before end of march. (April 1 - 22H59 CEST) Format use is required.

Format to use for predictions

[NSW]
[PS5]
[XBS]
[NS2]

Good
1. [NS2] 1500K
2. [PS5] 1500000
3...

• Astral_lion02
• Replies: 19
• Forum: The Market

•