UK May 2023: Zelda and Switch #1

[Welfare]

Software: 2.17 million titles sold (+30% year over year)

UK GSD May 2023 Top 10 (Digital + Physical)​

Position	Title
1	The Legend of Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom (Nintendo)*
2	Hogwarts Legacy (Warner Bros)
3	Star Wars Jedi: Survivor (EA)
4	FIFA 23 (EA)
5	Grand Theft Auto 5 (Rockstar)
6	Dead Island 2 (Deep Silver)
7	NBA 2K23 (2K Games)
8	Far Cry 6 (Ubisoft)
9	Red Dead Redemption 2 (Rockstar)
10	Tom Clacy's The Division 2 (Ubisoft)

* Digital data unavailable

The Legend of Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom

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.

Other releases

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.

Hardware
Just under 96,000 consoles (-10% year over year) (-14% from April)

#1 Switch (+28% year over year) (-5% from April) | Almost 35% of all Switch consoles sold in May were for the Zelda OLED version
#2 PS5 (-23% from April)
#3 Xbox Series (-10% from April)

Year to date
Console +16.6%
PS5 +81%
Switch -8%
Xbox Series -19%

Accessories
441,268 add-on products (-5% year over year) (-9% from April)

The best-selling accessory continues to be the PS5 DualSense controller, although we have a new No.2 in the form of the Nintendo Switch Pro Controller, boosted by the launch of the latest Zelda game.

The highest charting new accessory is actually the Zelda edition of the Nintendo Switch Pro Controller (it reached No.20), which was launched to coincide with the game. However, this controller was in very short supply.

A Switch Carry Case tie-in with Zelda also makes the charts at No.32. This product has also sold out.

Nintendo Switch and The Legend of Zelda dominated May | UK Monthly Charts

PS5 had to make way for Nintendo Switch last month

www.gamesindustry.biz

 

[gibordep]

If anyone wants to make a topic.

 

[Himura Kenshin]

I'm expecting similar results from Circana.

 

[Xevross]

Well PS5 has well and truly slowed down. Can't see Sony hitting that target at this pace of sales but there's plenty of time in the year to come.

TOTK already #3 in the franchise with physical only is crazy, such a huge success.

 

[Welfare]

My estimates are

Switch: ~39K
PS5: ~36K
XBS: ~19K

 

[MegaXZero]

My estimates are

Switch: ~39K
PS5: ~36K
XBS: ~19K

Yeah that seems about right given the data presented.

 

[allan-bh]

Well PS5 has well and truly slowed down. Can't see Sony hitting that target at this pace of sales but there's plenty of time in the year to come.

TOTK already #3 in the franchise with physical only is crazy, such a huge success.

They will launch a hardware revision, that plus some deals and could be possible, but the best year in Playstation history is definitely a hard target.

 

[Busaiku]

So it seems like demand has finally caught up on PS5.
Definitely makes the decision to launch a revision this year (should that pan out) a good one to hit targets.

 

[Shezard]

Quick (and probably wrong) maths, but Switch is just -15% YoY without the Zoled.

Of course, many TotK players opted for a cheaper model, but still...

 

[Maluigi]

Interesting that the last gen version of HL accounted for 77% of this months‘ sales for the game. Not bad especially since it is not a late port.

 

[Lelouch0612]

Interesting that the last gen version of HL accounted for 77% of this months‘ sales for the game. Not bad especially since it is not a late port.

Yeah the PS4/XB1 was very strong given the 3 months delay.

 

[KillerMan]

So it seems like demand has finally caught up on PS5.
Definitely makes the decision to launch a revision this year (should that pan out) a good one to hit targets.

Covid just inflated peoples expectations for April/may sales. Without huge release (like Zelda) these are traditionally dead months for console hw sales.

 

[Vena]

Covid just inflated peoples expectations for April/may sales. Without huge release (like Zelda) these are traditionally dead months for console hw sales.

I believe the premise is more on ongoing expectations of pent up demand pushing sales higher than normal. But that seems to have abated, and some predictions and potentially forecasts could have been made on the aforementioned expectations.

 

[MarcoP90]

My estimates are

Switch: ~39K
PS5: ~36K
XBS: ~19K

Looking back at May 2022, since we have the yoy increase for at least one system

NSW sales in May 2022 - 30.469

Overall May 2022 sales - 106.000 (up 10% MoM)
PS5 + XSX|S in May 2022 - around 76.000
PS5 + XSX|S in May 2023 - around 55.000 (-27,63% YoY)

 

[Hartmann]

PS5
Jan: YoY+98%
Feb: MoM+27% YoY+316% YTD+180%
Mar: MoM-2% YTD+180%
Apr: MoM-35% YoY+15%
May: MoM-23% YoY-xx% YTD+81%

 

[MarcoP90]

Looking back at May 2022, since we have the yoy increase for at least one system

NSW sales in May 2022 - 30.469

Overall May 2022 sales - 106.000 (up 10% MoM)
PS5 + XSX|S in May 2022 - around 76.000
PS5 + XSX|S in May 2023 - around 55.000 (-27,63% YoY)

Going much more in depth thanks to the more detailed recap of MoM and YoY changes for PS5 that @Hartmann posted

PS5

Q1 2022 (Jan - Mar 2022) - 72.541 | Q1 2023 (Jan - Mar 2023) - 203.116 (+180% YoY)
Jan - May 2022 - 157.939 | Jan - May 2023 - 285.869 (+81% YoY)

___________

April + May 2022 - 85.398 | April + May 2023 - 82.753 (-3% YoY)

___________

January 2022 - 29.188 | January 2023 - 57.792 (+98% YoY)
February 2022 - 17.643 | February 2023 - 73.396 (+316% YoY)
March 2022 - 25.710 | March 2023 - 71.928 (+179% YoY)
April 2022 - 40.655 | April 2023 - 46.753 (+15% YoY)
May 2022 - 44.473 | May 2023 - 36.000 (-19% YoY)

 

[Adventureracing]

Well PS5 has well and truly slowed down. Can't see Sony hitting that target at this pace of sales but there's plenty of time in the year to come.

TOTK already #3 in the franchise with physical only is crazy, such a huge success.

Ehhh let’s wait and see. 1 month of sales in one region not being massive doesn’t mean they won’t make their target. They obviously have a reason for the optimism.

If they have a revision to go alongside Spider-Man they’re going to have a monstrous holiday.

 

[BassForever]

Yeah the PS4/XB1 was very strong given the 3 months delay.

I wouldn't be surprised (assuming it's a decent port) that Terf Legacy on Switch will sell like it's a new game in a lot of places.

 

[Lurker101]

Is 'just under 96k' consoles for the whole month and thats nsw+ps+xbox? Isnt that like really low? I thought the UK was a juggernaut western market when compared to 'dead and irrelevant' markets like japan? granted I dont know much about sales in western territories. Switch alone sells like 90k (much more more often than not) in two weeks on average in japan.

 

[salesguy]

well japan is 126 million population where uk is 67 million fwiw. almost 2x or half population.

 

[fiendcode]

well japan is 126 million population where uk is 67 million fwiw. almost 2x or half population.

Pure population doesn't tell you the whole story, or more populous nations like China, India, Brazil, Pakistan, Indonesia, Mexico or Russia would be ahead of both in consoles.

Looking at GDP per capita UK ($46k) is decently ahead of Japan ($35k) for example. Population is important but currency, buying power and really historical relevance in the area is key for consoles. All those reasons are why Japan's the solid #2 market globally while the UK comes in #3 or #4.

 

[BTB123]

Interesting that the last gen version of HL accounted for 77% of this months‘ sales for the game. Not bad especially since it is not a late port.

It is a late port though. The last gen versions launched in May.

 

[Maluigi]

It is a late port though. The last gen versions launched in May.

Only three months after the next gen. What I meant was: Even while these next gen versions probably are still selling good because the game isn‘t old (like a year or more) they achived this share.

 

[Welfare]

Is 'just under 96k' consoles for the whole month and thats nsw+ps+xbox? Isnt that like really low? I thought the UK was a juggernaut western market when compared to 'dead and irrelevant' markets like japan? granted I dont know much about sales in western territories. Switch alone sells like 90k (much more more often than not) in two weeks on average in japan.

Japan has always been far above the UK in sales.

The most a device has sold is the DS at +10M, PS2 at +10M, and everything else under 10M.

 

[Lurker101]

Thanks for those numbers. I guess I just assumed UK market was huge since its touted as 'Playstation territory' and we dont really get to see the hard numbers.

Edit: forgot to press reply or quote and cba how to edit into quote meant as reply to @Welfare

 

[fiendcode]

Thanks for those numbers. I guess I just assumed UK market was huge since its touted as 'Playstation territory' and we dont really get to see the hard numbers.

If you're wondering about national breakdowns and comparisons for consoles, this is a great thread to look at:

Hardware and Software sales 2020 in +10 countries

2020 numbers for each country. USA Hardware Switch - 8.980.000 (56%) PS4 - 2.070.000 (13%) PS5 - 1.960.000 (12%) Series - 1.490.000 (9%) XB1 - 1.460.000 (9%) 3DS - 200.000 (1%) TOTAL - 16.160.000 (100%) Annual Hardware (2012-2020) Total Hardware Software Switch - 39.080.000 (42%) PS4 -...

www.installbaseforum.com

Hope we get the 2021 update soon!