In the GfK’s annual report for the UK games market, they reveal that 2016 revenue from combined sales of physical games, console hardware, accessories, digital points cards, and toys-to-life figurines fell 15.8% year-over-year to £1.78 billion.
By category, console hardware was down 27% year-over-year to £503 million, software was down 16.4% to £776 million, and accessories were up 1% to £501 million. In 2016, every console (except 3DS) was down in sales, while accessories rose in sales thanks to PlayStation VR.
Taking a deeper look at software last year in the UK, Games Industry points out that nearly 80% of all boxed games sold last year were either on PS4 or Xbox One (up from 66% in 2015). PS3 and Xbox 360 games accounted for 8.1% of sales (down from 20% last year), with Wii U at just 2.5%. Here’s the breakdown of software share by platform in 2016 in the UK, based on units sold:
- PlayStation 4 – 45%
- Xbox One – 34.1%
- Nintendo 3DS – 7%
- Xbox 360 – 5.2%
- PlayStation 3 – 2.9%
- Wii U – 2.5%
- PC – 2.3%
- Wii – 0.5%
- PlayStation Vita – 0.4%
- Nintendo DS – 0.1%
Looking at publishers, EA held 22.1% software market share (by units), followed by Activision Blizzard with 12.1%, Ubisoft with 9.5%, Nintendo with 8.2%, Take-Two with 7.4%, and Sony with 7.1%.
According to GfK, here’s the top 50 best-selling games of 2016 in the UK through retail stores:
- FIFA 17 (2.5 million)
- Call of Duty: Infinite Warfare
- Battlefield 1 (1 million+)
- The Division
- Grand Theft Auto V
- Uncharted 4: A Thief’s End
- Call of Duty: Black Ops 3
- Watch Dogs 2
- Overwatch
- Forza Horizon 3
- Mafia III
- The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim Special Edition
- FIFA 16
- LEGO Star Wars: The Force Awakens
- Doom
- LEGO Marvel’s Avengers
- Star Wars Battlefront
- Minecraft: Xbox Edition
- Far Cry Primal
- Gears of War 4
- Pokemon Sun
- Fallout 4
- Pokemon Moon
- Final Fantasy XV
- Rocket League
- WWE 2K17
- Titanfall 2
- EA Sports UFC 2
- No Man’s Sky
- Dishonored 2
- Rainbow Six Siege
- Ratchet & Clank
- LEGO Jurassic World
- Minecraft: PlayStation Edition
- Dark Souls 3
- Plants vs Zombies Garden Warfare 2
- Rise of the Tomb Raider: 20 Year Celebration
- LEGO Dimensions
- Minecraft: Story Mode
- Just Cause 3
- F1 2016
- WWE 2K16
- Disney Infinity 3.0
- Assassin’s Creed Syndicate
- Steep
- Halo 5: Guardians
- Guitar Hero Live
- Just Dance 2017
- Skylanders Imaginators
- Deus Ex: Mankind Divided
Further down the chart, The Last Guardian placed in 68th, ahead of Battleborn (73rd), Street Fighter V (79th), and Mirror’s Edge Catalyst (80th).
FIFA 16 and Call of Duty: Black Ops 3 were the two best-selling games of 2015 in the UK.
[Source: Games Industry, MCV UK]
