Like 2017, 2018 might have felt like the year of the Nintendo Switch, but in the United Kingdom, 2018 still very much belonged to Sony's PlayStation 4.

While the Nintendo Switch saw a 20 percent increase in sales in the UK last year, it wasn't enough to dethrone the PS4, which was the highest-selling console in the region for the calendar year.

The information comes way of GamesIndustry, who reveals that actually the system sold more in the UK in 2018 than 2017, and in the process sold over one million units. Not bad for a system that released all the way back in 2013.

Behind the PlayStation 4 is Xbox One, which despite making many good moves in 2018 (albeit not in the game department like PS4 did), couldn't pass its main competitor. Not far behind the Xbox One was the Nintendo Switch.

Collectively, the systems sold 2.5 million units in the UK last year, which is higher than the number of consoles that sold in 2017.

As for the UK retail game sales all together, 770 million pounds was generated, with revenue down 2.8 percent year-on-year. As for games specifically, 22 million sold last year, which was down 7.1 percent. Only the Nintendo Switch increased its software sales (90.1 percent increase in sales, 73.4 increase in revenue).

Meanwhile, FIFA 19 was the best-selling game of the year, followed by Call of Duty: Black Ops 4 and Red Dead Redemption 2.

Apparently the revenue drop was smaller than the physical drop due to the sale of more higher priced products, aka more expensive games.

Of course, this is only for the retail market, and as the digital market continues to erode deeper and deeper into the retail market -- and with the increase in games-as-a-service -- it becomes more and more difficult to read the data and make conclusions based off it.

As you can see, the retail market is still healthy, but it's not as robust as it was even a few years ago, let alone a decade ago. Further, it's shrinking and will continue to shrink, and while it will never go away entirely, it will have to adjust as digital gaming becomes more and more prevalent. I know I personally embraced the all digital future (when it comes to gaming) a few years ago, and I've never looked back.

Posted: Jan 06, 2019 11:54 am
Related Forum: PlayStation Forum

Source: https://comicbook.com/gaming/2019/01/05/ps4-2018-best-selling-console-uk/