By using this site, you agree to our Privacy Policy and our Terms of Use. Close
Switch Best-Selling Console in the UK in December, PS5 in 2nd, and Xbox Series X|S in 3rd

Switch Best-Selling Console in the UK in December, PS5 in 2nd, and Xbox Series X|S in 3rd - Sales

by William D'Angelo , posted on 09 January 2023 / 6,834 Views

Nintendo Switch was the best-selling console in the UK in December, according to GfK Entertainment and reported by GamesIndustry

The PlayStation 5 was the second best-selling console in the UK in December with sales not far behind the Nintendo Switch. The Xbox Series X|S came in third place.

There were over 460,000 video game consoles sold in the UK in December (panel data, not upweighted), which is up 24 percent compared to December. However, sales were down 17 percent compared to December 2021.

PlayStation 5 sales were up slightly compared to December 2021, while the Xbox Series X|S and Nintendo Switch were down.

PS5 Has Outsold the Xbox Series X|S in the UK in 2022, Switch Remains Number One

GSD data shows that nearly 6.4 million physical and digital games were sold in the UK in December, which is down eight percent year-on-year.

2.85 million of the games sold were digital. This compares to over 3.5 million physical games sold.

FIFA 23 was the best-selling game in the UK in December, followed by Call of Duty: Modern Warfare II in second place

Call of Duty: Modern Warfare II sales were relatively even between the PlayStation and Xbox versions. The PlayStation 5 and PlayStation 4 versions accounted for 54 percent of sales, while the Xbox version accounted for 46 percent.

God of War: Ragnarök was the third best-selling game, however, if you were to combine Pokémon Scarlet and Pokémon Violet it would have come in third place.

There were a number of new games outside the top 10. Need for Speed Unbound debuted in 14th place with sales down 44 percent compared to 2019's Need for Speed Heat. The Callisto Protocol debuted in 16th place, however, these figures don't include digital sales. Crisis Core: Final Fantasy VII Reunion debuted in 20th place.

Here are the software (digital + physical) charts:

Position Title
1 FIFA 23 (EA)
2 Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2 (Activision Blizzard)
3 God of War Ragnarok (Sony)
4 Grand Theft Auto 5 (Rockstar)
5 Pokémon Violet (Nintendo)*
6 LEGO Star Wars: The Skywalker Saga (Warner Bros)
7 Mario Kart 8: Deluxe (Nintendo)*
8 Nintendo Switch Sports (Nintendo)*
9 Pokémon Violet (Nintendo)*
10 Sonic Frontiers (Sega)
11 Red Dead Redemption 2 (Rockstar)
12 Elden Ring (Bandai Namco)
13 Just Dance 2023 (Ubisoft)
14 Need for Speed Unbound (EA)
15 NBA 2K23 (2K Games)
16 The Callisto Protocol (Krafton)*
17 Minecraft: Switch Edition (Mojang/Nintendo)*
18 Animal Crossing: New Horizons (Nintendo)*
19 Gotham Knights (Warner Bros)
20 Crisis Core: Final Fantasy VII Reunion (Square Enix)

* Digital data unavailable

GSD digital data includes games from participating companies sold via Steam, Xbox Live, PlayStation Network, Nintendo Eshop. Major participating companies are Activision Blizzard, Bandai Namco, Capcom, Codemasters, Electronic Arts, Embracer Group (including Gearbox, Koch Media, Sabre Interactive), Focus Entertainment, Konami, Marvellous Games, Microids, Microsoft (including Bethesda), Milestone, Nacon, Paradox Interactive, Quantic Dream, Sega, Sony, Square Enix, Take-Two, Ubisoft and Warner Bros. Nintendo and 505 Games are the notable absentees, alongside smaller studios.


A life-long and avid gamer, William D'Angelo was first introduced to VGChartz in 2007. After years of supporting the site, he was brought on in 2010 as a junior analyst, working his way up to lead analyst in 2012 and taking over the hardware estimates in 2017. He has expanded his involvement in the gaming community by producing content on his own YouTube channel and Twitch channel. You can contact the author on Twitter @TrunksWD.


More Articles

7 Comments
trunkswd (on 09 January 2023)

About VGChartz estimates for December: With the UK December report out now and December NPD coming out on Friday (and hopefully Europe December report this week) I will wait to post the rest of December estimates. I hope to have December 17 estimates posted on Friday then the final 2 weeks of December next week on Monday and Wednesday/Thursday.

  • +14
BlipXP trunkswd (on 09 January 2023)

Thanks for the hard work as always

  • +9
siebensus4 trunkswd (on 09 January 2023)

Thanks a lot for the update ^^

  • +3
Mars2001 (on 09 January 2023)

Sony release 30M until 31/12 means about 5.5M in this Q.Nintendo about 9.5M?

  • +2
Pajderman (on 10 January 2023)

Pokémon Violet is mentioned two times in the software sales chart at position 5 and 9. I guess one of them is the Scarlet version?

On another note, when will GTA5 stop selling? My God the legs on that game.

  • 0
Comment was deleted...
Kakadu18 Pajderman (on 10 January 2023)

9 should be Scarlet, that one has been the lower seller.

  • 0