Thus far, 2023 has been the year of the PlayStation 5, with new numbers out of the UK providing more evidence of Sony’s hot streak. According to GfK Group sales data (as reported by GamesIndustry.biz) UK console sales were up 24 percent in the first quarter of the year, with the increase entirely driven by the red-hot PS5. Sales of Sony’s machine were up 180 percent year-on-year compared to Q1 2022. Meanwhile, sales for the #2 Nintendo Switch were down 25 percent and the #3 Xbox Series X/S were down 18 percent.
Since launching in 2020, the PlayStation 5 spent many months beset by serious supply issues, often coming in second or third in monthly sales rankings despite sky-high demand for the console. Thankfully, Sony finally got their supply issues in check late last year, and the console has been flying off shelves ever since. UK PS5 sales for January 2023 were up a whopping 202 percent, and the momentum has only slowed slightly since then. Last we heard back in February, the PS5 had sold over 32 million units.
In other Q1 2023 UK sales news, Hogwarts Legacy was by far the #1 game leading to an overall 1 percent increase in software sales for the quarter, despite Q2 2022 arguably being stronger overall. Hogwarts Legacy is the biggest non-FIFA or Call of Duty title in the UK since Red Dead Redemption 2. That said, Hogwarts was bumped off the top of the charts by the Resident Evil 4 remake in March. The new RE4 didn’t sell as well as the Resident Evil 2 remake or Resident Evil Village at launch, but it did beat out the Resident Evil 3 remake.
Here are the UK’s top-10 best-selling games of March…
1 – Resident Evil 4 (Capcom)
2 – Hogwarts Legacy (Warner Bros)
3 – FIFA 23 (EA)
4 – WWE 2K23 (2K Games)
5 – Grand Theft Auto 5 (Rockstar)
6 – Tchia (Kepler)
7 – Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2 (Activision Blizzard)
8 – Red Dead Redemption 2 (Rockstar)
9 – Metroid Prime Remastered (Nintendo)
10 – NBA 2K23 (2K Games)
It will be interesting to see how the console race shakes out for the rest of the year. It seems likely the PS5 will continue to dominate throughout 2023, but the pending release of The Legend of Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom may shake things up temporarily.
