During the month of May 2022, more than 1.6 million video games, 100 000 game consoles, and 460 000 accessories were sold in the UK.
May was a tough month for the video game market. Overall sales in May were down by 22%, due to a lack of new major video game releases compared to last year, when Resident Evil: Village was released. According to the GSD data, 1.63 million games, both digital and physical, were sold in May 2022.
Video game sales have declined by 32% compared to April 2022, which saw the successful launch of the latest LEGO title, Lego Star Wars: The Skywalker Saga. The latest Warner Bros title is still at No.1 on the charts in May even after its monthly sales have seen a decline of 87%.
While Lego Star Wars: The Skywalker Saga was No.1 in total sales, it is worth noting that Nintendo Switch Sports was No.1 in terms of physical sales, while FIFA 22 was No.1 when it comes to digital downloads.
Sniper Elite 5 was the only new game to appear on the charts, landing at No.12, however, this data only accounts for physical sales.
Console sales were also declining, seeing a 38.3% decline. This is due to the still ongoing stock shortages of the latest PlayStation 5 and Xbox Series X/S consoles. It is worth noting that Nintendo Switch sales are also in decline, although the console is still selling quite well compared to the pre-pandemic period.
However, console stocks seem to be improving, especially for PlayStation 5 which was in 3rd place in terms of sales from January to March 2022, but its sales have risen quite significantly in the last couple of months with its monthly sales for May being up 10% compared to April.
The latest Xbox console’s monthly sales are also on the rise with a 58% increase compared to April due to the Series X variety. Nintendo Switch monthly sales have seen a 3% decline compared to April.
In total, console sales in May increased by 16% to 106 000 units sold according to GfK data.
During the month, 465 000 accessories were sold in the UK according to the GfK data. This represents a 10% decline compared to April 2022 and a 24.4% decline compared to May 2021.
PlayStation 5’s White DualSense controller was the best-selling accessory which was followed by the wired Xbox controller at No.2. The Midnight black variant of the PS5 controller came in at No.3 and the Cosmic Red controller came in at No.4.
Nintendo Switch Leg Strap made a huge leap on the charts to No.13 due to the recent release of Nintendo Switch Sports.
Below are the top twenty best-selling video games in the UK in May 2022:
1. Lego Star Wars: The Skywalker Saga
2. FIFA 22
3. Nintendo Switch Sports*
4. Grand Theft Auto 5
5. Elden Ring
6. Red Dead Redemption 2
7. Horizon Forbidden West
8. NBA 2K22
9. WWE 2K22
10. Star Wars Jedi: Fallen Order
11. Star Wars Battlefront 2
12. Sniper Elite 5*
13. Gran Turismo 7
14. Assassin’s Creed Valhalla
15. Tom Clancy’s The Division 2
16. Sonic Mania
17. Pokémon Legends: Arceus*
18. Call of Duty: Vanguard
19. Sonic Forces
20. The Sims 4
