UK 2020 Sales Report - Hardware and Software

Started by Xevross, Jan 11, 2021, 11:25 AM

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Xevross

Jan 11, 2021, 11:25 AM Last Edit: Jan 11, 2021, 12:26 PM by Xevross
43 million games sold in the UK in 2020 | UK Annual Report | GamesIndustry.biz

Source is here, a lot of info. Firstly Hardware:

Quote
Now onto the sales of the consoles themselves. Across all devices, including handhelds, 3.16 million games machines were sold in 2020. That's a big rise of 29.4% over 2019.

The winner of the year was Nintendo Switch, which was the best-selling games console in the UK for 11 of the 12 months in 2020. Switch sales are up 52.2% last year compared with 2019, which offset the 35.3% drop for PS4 and the 42.3% drop for Xbox One.
The second best-selling console of 2020 was the PlayStation 5, despite only being on sale since mid-November (and with Sony struggling to supply the demand). The PS5 very narrowly outsold the PS4, which is in third position.
This means sales look like this:

Switch 1.45M (3.94M LTD)
PS5 ~430k (430k LTD)
PS4 420k (7.55M LTD)
XBS ~300k (300k LTD)
XB1 300k (5.70M LTD)

~260k systems remaining across all others. That Switch number compares to a peak year of 1.26M for PS4 and 1.07M for XB1. PS5's 430k is quite far down on PS4's 580k debut in 2013. XB1 did 400k in 2013, XBS 300k estimate is from Chris Dring's info of Switch~=PS5+PS4+XB1+XBS, so it could be a bit off but safe to say XBS is down on XB1.

Software top 10 including digital except Nintendo titles:

01. FIFA 21 - 2.182.694 units
02. Call of Duty: Black Ops Cold War - 1.420.353
03. Grand Theft Auto V - 1.127.222
04. FIFA 20 - 903.810
05. Call of Duty: Modern Warfare - 897,350
06. Animal Crossing: New Horizons* - 810.462
07. Assassin's Creed Valhalla - 665.815
08. The Last of Us: Part II -  539,247
09. NBA 2K20 - 481.507
10. Tom Clancy's Rainbow Six Siege - 436.957

And some highlights:

Quote
The [digital] transition is certainly increasing. Two thirds -- 67% -- of games sold in the UK last year were bought via Xbox Live, PSN, Nintendo Eshop and Steam. That's a big jump on 2019, when 52% of games sold were via download stores. The market was transitioning towards digital before 2020.
Quote
The most successful boxed games publisher was Nintendo, which accounted for 20.5% of all physical games sold in 2020 (EA is in second place with 12.4%). The biggest digital games publisher of the year was Ubisoft, with an 18% market share (again, followed by EA with 15%). If we combine physical and digital together, Ubisoft was No.1 with a 14.3% market share, followed closely by EA (13.7%). However, as already stated, Nintendo digital sales are not included.

In terms of games sales by consoles, PS4 was the top-performing platform, with 39.6% of games being bought on Sony's last-generation device. Of course, the absence of Nintendo games from the digital data does skew the overall figure. In terms of purely retail sales, PS4 was still No.1 with a 37.4% market share, but Nintendo Switch was close behind with 35.1%.

If we purely look at digital sales, PS4 had a 41% market share, ahead of Xbox One's 26%. This is just for full game download sales, so Xbox Game Pass isn't included in this.

Xevross

PS5 launch sales ~275k. PS5 2020 post launch sales ~155k.
XBS launch sales ~155k. XBS 2020 post launch sales ~145k.

These splits are estimated by me but won't be far off. Both consoles piled their stock heavily on launch, having the biggest launch ever for their brand, but both had vastly lower post launch stock than their predecessors:

PS4 launch sales 250k. PS4 2013 post launch sales 330k.
XB1 launch sales 150k. XB1 2013 post launch sales 250k.

kitler53

PS5 launch sales ~275k. PS5 2020 post launch sales ~155k.
XBS launch sales ~155k. XBS 2020 post launch sales ~145k.

These splits are estimated by me but won't be far off. Both consoles piled their stock heavily on launch, having the biggest launch ever for their brand, but both had vastly lower post launch stock than their predecessors:

PS4 launch sales 250k. PS4 2013 post launch sales 330k.
XB1 launch sales 150k. XB1 2013 post launch sales 250k.
feels legit.  post launch availability has been terrible.

i'm of course an american talking about UK sales here but clearly i'm talking about globably in the US..


Featured Artist: Vanessa Hudgens

Xevross

feels legit.  post launch availability has been terrible.

i'm of course an american talking about UK sales here but clearly i'm talking about globably in the US..
The proportion will be similar in the US, seems December shipments have been low for PS5 worldwide.

Xevross

Someone calculated this on Era:

 PS4 download sales: 10 million units (CP2077, Doom Eternal, Fall Guys, etc. are not included)
 PC+Switch+PS5+Xbox Series download sales = 8.1 million units (games above are not included, same for Nintendo games and Ubisoft titles in PC)
 PS4 retail sales: 6.8 million units (all publishers)
 Xbox One download sales: 6.4 million units (CP2077 and Doom Eternal are not included. So, most probably total sales are above PS4 retail sales)
 Switch retail sales: 6.4 million units (all publishers)
 PS5+Xbox+PC+3DS retail sales: 5 million units (all publishers)

SWORDF1SH

feels legit.  post launch availability has been terrible.

i'm of course an american talking about UK sales here but clearly i'm talking about globably in the US..
I love that globally in the US is still a thing all  ;D

BananaKing

I love that globally in the US is still a thing all  ;D
I sometimes crack that joke in real life situations and forget why people don't get it

kitler53

I love that globally in the US is still a thing all  ;D
I sometimes crack that joke in real life situations and forget why people don't get it
quite possibly the best thing to ever come out of that site. 


Featured Artist: Vanessa Hudgens

Xevross

Some things to note here. AC Valhalla sold 400k physical in the time frame, so that's a 40% digital ratio.

COD sold 455k physical, so that's a 68% digital ratio.

Seems like for single player games, digital ratios around launch are still under half, but for multiplayer games digital ratios are soaring even at launch. Of course, digital ratios tend to increase for all games after launch. PS4 digital ratio overall for the UK in 2020 was 60%

BananaKing

I think its because digital becomes cheaper after a while as well. Also 2020 was a covid year, a lot if these stores were closed or people didn't want to leave. Pushed people to buy more digital.

Honestly digital is a great way to buy, old school people prefer to buy discs. But digital has do many benefits. I hope discs survive though because if not prices for software will always be higher in digital when there is no competition

kitler53

Some things to note here. AC Valhalla sold 400k physical in the time frame, so that's a 40% digital ratio.

COD sold 455k physical, so that's a 68% digital ratio.

Seems like for single player games, digital ratios around launch are still under half, but for multiplayer games digital ratios are soaring even at launch. Of course, digital ratios tend to increase for all games after launch. PS4 digital ratio overall for the UK in 2020 was 60%
disc can be resold and digital cannot.

single player games, generally speaking, can be played and completed quickly leaving people with a game they may no longer want to play.  If played quick enough the game can be resold of nearly the same amount of money has it was purchased.  multiplayer games, generally speaking, get replayed over and over again for a long period of time until the community collapses to leave for the next whatever.  the depreciation in value is much greater.


not sure how true that exactly is but it makes sense to me.   i buy everything digital but if i were the type to buy both i think the above logic would apply to my purchase decisions.


Featured Artist: Vanessa Hudgens

Xevross

disc can be resold and digital cannot.

single player games, generally speaking, can be played and completed quickly leaving people with a game they may no longer want to play.  If played quick enough the game can be resold of nearly the same amount of money has it was purchased.  multiplayer games, generally speaking, get replayed over and over again for a long period of time until the community collapses to leave for the next whatever.  the depreciation in value is much greater.


not sure how true that exactly is but it makes sense to me.   i buy everything digital but if i were the type to buy both i think the above logic would apply to my purchase decisions.
There's lots of reasons, I thought it was a pretty obvious trend that most people could easily explain.