Switch Best-Selling Console in the UK in May, Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom Sets Zelda Record - Sales
by William D'Angelo , posted on 06 June 2023 / 5,969 Views
The Nintendo Switch was the best-selling console in the UK in May 2023, according to GfK Entertainment and reported by GamesIndustry. This ends the four-month run of PS5 being the best-selling console.
Sales for the Nintendo Switch are down five percent compared to April, but are up 28 percent year-on-year. The main reason for the Switch seeing a drop in sales month-on-moth is due to the release of the limited edition The Legend of Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom Switch OLED Model towards the end of April. Nearly 35 percent of Switch consoles sold in May were for the Zelda Switch OLED Model.
The PlayStation 5 was the second best-selling console in the UK in May with sales falling 23 percent compared to April. It is also the first time in 2023 that sales were lower than in the same month in 2022.
The Xbox Series X|S was the third best-selling console in May with sales down 10 percent compared to April. Sales were also down year-on-year.
There were nearly 96,000 video game consoles sold in the UK in May (GfK panel data, not upweighted). This is down 14 percent month-on-month and down 10 percent year-on-year.
Console sales in 2023 through May are up 16.6 percent compared to the same period in 2022. PS5 sales are up 81 percent in 2023, while Switch sales are down eight percent, and Xbox Series X|S sales are down 19 percent.
GSD data shows that over 2.17 million physical and digital games were sold in the UK in May, which is up nearly 30 percent year-on-year.
The Legend of Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom was easily the best-selling game in May in the UK. This is even with Nintendo not sharing digital sales. It is the biggest launch for a Zelda game in the UK with lifetime sales only sitting behind 2006's The Legend of Zelda: Twilight Princess and 2017's The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild.
The last-generation versions of Hogwarts Legacy released in May to help boost the sales of the game as it took second place on the software charts. The PlayStation 4 version accounted for 53 percent of the sales, while the Xbox One version accounted for 24 percent of the sales. The current-generation version accounted for the rest of the sales.
There were 441,268 accessories and add-on products sold in the UK in May, which is down nine percent month-on-month and down five percent year-on-year. The PS5 White DualSense controller was the best-selling accessory, while the Nintendo Switch Pro Controller came in second.
| Position | Title |
| 1 | The Legend of Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom (Nintendo)* |
| 2 | Hogwarts Legacy (Warner Bros) |
| 3 | Star Wars Jedi: Survivor (EA) |
| 4 | FIFA 23 (EA) |
| 5 | Grand Theft Auto 5 (Rockstar) |
| 6 | Dead Island 2 (Deep Silver) |
| 7 | NBA 2K23 (2K Games) |
| 8 | Far Cry 6 (Ubisoft) |
| 9 | Red Dead Redemption 2 (Rockstar) |
| 10 | Tom Clacy's The Division 2 (Ubisoft) |
* 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, Kepler, 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.
