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

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.