PS5 Sales Jump 217% in the UK During Black Friday Week, Xbox Series X|S Has 3rd Biggest Week Yet - Sales
by William D'Angelo , posted on 08 December 2023 / 6,730 Views
The PlayStation 5 was the best-selling console in the UK during Black Friday week, according to GfK data reported by GamesIndustry.
Sales for the PS5 jumped 217 percent year-on-year, however, it should be noted PS5 stock was severely limited last year and only accounted for 18 percent of consoles sold a year ago.
The Xbox Series X|S was the second best-selling console of the week with sales flat year-on-year. It was also the third biggest week yet for the Xbox Series X|S. The Nintendo Switch came in third place as sales were down year-on-year.
Total hardware sales are up 34 percent compared to Black Friday week 2022. This was driven by the growth in PS5 sales.
The overall gaming market had a strong Black Friday week in the UK with £167 million of consoles, physical game sales, and accessories sold.
47 percent of the total revenue came from console sales, compared to 40 percent last year. Physical game sales in the UK increased 22 percent year-on-year.
This is the third biggest Black Friday for video games, with only Friday 2013 and Black Friday 2020 being bigger. Those weeks were helped by the launch of the PS4 in 2013 and PS5 in 2020.
Accessories saw a huge week with the biggest Black Friday ever for for peripherals sales. This was driven by strong sales of VR headsets, controllers, and gaming headsets.
"VR was in the spotlight over Black Friday 2023 and this was the biggest ever revenue week for VR," said GfK games boss Dorian Bloch.
"Gaming Headsets show a similar picture to joypads, with a reverse on units and slight revenue increase. For headsets, the under £60 category grew 5% points to 45% of overall revenue and this segment actually saw an average selling price increase from £25 to £29.
"At the same time the over £100 category took 26% of revenue in both time periods, but the average selling price grew from £139 to £156, which confirms a trend that has been happening for a long time – namely that the premium end of the market is highly prized by consumers, willing to trade upwards to higher priced SKUs."
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.