Black Friday game sales in the UK are down this year, but Switch is on the rise

© Nintendo

For the UK, last week was one of the biggest and highest grossing weeks of the year for the video game industry, with over a million physical games sold. However, as GamesIndustry.biz reports, this seemingly impressive number is actually 20% lower than Black Friday 2019.

Last year UK gaming fans got 1.3 million boxed games over the same seven-day period, which means this year has been a bit of a disappointment in comparison. Of course, many factors will have played a role in this regard, with department store closings due to the pandemic and a trend that has seen many retailers start their Black Friday deals early.

However, despite this drop in sales for the industry as a whole, Switch sales have seen an increase this year. With PS5 and Xbox Series X | It’s mostly unavailable, and thanks to a relative lack of interest in its next-gen counterparts, Nintendo has had a chance to dominate with some tempting new consoles and packages.

GamesIndustry.biz notes that physical Switch game sales increased 33% during Black Friday week compared to the previous week, and Switch titles accounted for over 38% of all boxed games during the week. . In fact, 9% more Switch games were sold this Black Friday than during last year’s event, a decent year-over-year increase despite the decline in the number of games overall. .

It seems increasingly likely that Nintendo will release some really impressive numbers soon once the holiday season is over and dusted; Last week, Switch console shipping data revealed that “ crazy ” records appear to be broken in the United States as well.