Revealed: The 100 best-selling UK boxed games of 2017
As always, Call of Duty and FIFA dominate. But there are a few surprises, too
Last year, sales of boxed games in the UK stopped declining.
Although the number of physical games sold (23.8m) was 0.4% down over 2016, the revenue figure rose 2.1% to £792m.
This was helped by a stronger Christmas period, with boxed game sales across November and December rising over 5% compared with the year before - driven by a stronger performance of Call of Duty.
The result has helped the games retail marketplace, with UK retailer GAME reporting a more than 5% growth in sales at the end of last year (although that was also boosted by improved console sales).
Now, courtesy of GfK and UKIE, we can reveal the 100 best-selling boxed games that were sold during 2017, and the most successful boxed video game publishers, too.
EA Market Share Slips As Activision Grows
EA accounted for more than 22% of all boxed games sold in 2016, but that fell to 17% in 2017. That was partially due to falling sales of the boxed version of FIFA, but also the under-performance of its key shooter title - Star Wars: Battlefront II (which sold below 2016's Battlefield 1).
Activision clawed back market share year-on-year (up 3.5%), primarily due to strong sales of Call of Duty: WWII (significantly up compared with 2016's Infinite Warfare), but also due to the No.6 game of 2017 - Crash Bandicoot: N.Sane Trilogy.
Considering the strong success of Switch, it's not surprising to see Nintendo rise from No.4 to No.3 in the publisher rankings (market share up over 3% year-on-year), driven by the success of Mario Kart 8: Deluxe, Super Mario Odyssey and The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild. However, none of these games managed to break into The Top Ten. 1-2 Switch and Splatoon 2 also made the Top 50.
The Top Five publishers accounted for more than 60% of the entire boxed games market, as the market continues to consolidate around the big titles and the major publishers.
Some of the biggest movers in the boxed charts include Capcom - up 8 places thanks to the success of Resident Evil VII (no.19 for the year). Meanwhile, indie boxed publishers Sold Out, Team17 and Maximum Games leapt into the Top 20 publishers in terms of units and value.
Top 20 UK Games Publishers - Units
Last Year | This Year | Company Name | Software Market share (Units) |
---|---|---|---|
1 | 1 | Electronic Arts | 17% |
2 | 2 | Activision Blizzard | 15.7% |
4 | 3 | Nintendo | 11.3% |
3 | 4 | Ubisoft | 9.8% |
6 | 5 | Sony | 7.9% |
7 | 6 | Warner Bros | 6.9% |
5 | 7 | Take-Two | 6.1% |
9 | 8 | Bethesda | 5.1% |
8 | 9 | Microsoft | 4.9% |
10 | 10 | Square Enix Europe | 1.9% |
19 | 11 | Capcom | 1.8% |
12 | 12 | 505 Games | 1.4% |
11 | 13 | Bandai Namco | 1.4% |
15 | 14 | Codemasters | 1.2% |
16 | 15 | Sega | 1.2% |
13 | 16 | Tell-Tale | 0.7% |
24 | 17 | Team17 | 0.6% |
32 | 18 | Sold Out | 0.6% |
14 | 19 | Konami | 0.5% |
27 | 20 | Maximum Games | 0.4% |
Top 20 UK Games Publishers - Value
Last Year | This Year | Company Name | Software Market share (Value) |
---|---|---|---|
1 | 1 | Electronic Arts | 22.2% |
2 | 2 | Activision Blizzard | 18.2% |
5 | 3 | Nintendo | 12.5% |
3 | 4 | Ubisoft | 9.7% |
6 | 5 | Sony | 6.9% |
8 | 6 | Warner Bros | 5.6% |
4 | 7 | Take-Two | 5.1% |
9 | 8 | Microsoft | 3.8% |
9 | 9 | Bethesda | 3.2% |
16 | 10 | Capcom | 1.7% |
10 | 11 | Square Enix | 1.6% |
11 | 12 | Bandai Namco | 1.4% |
12 | 13 | Codemasters | 1.3% |
18 | 14 | Sega | 1% |
13 | 15 | 505 Games | 0.7% |
32 | 16 | Sold Out | 0.7% |
15 | 17 | Konami | 0.5% |
14 | 18 | TellTale | 0.5% |
26 | 19 | Team17 | 0.4% |
New Entry | 20 | Studio Wildcard | 0.4% |
FIFA Dominates again, but Call of Duty comes close
FIFA 18 ended the year as the UK's best-selling game - a fact that will come as no surprise to anyone who has followed UK game sales over the past five years.
However, boxed FIFA sales fell year-on-year. Indeed, Call of Duty sales came closer than it has done in a long time to EA's major sports franchise. Call of Duty: WWII has already sold more copies than 2016's Infinite Warfare. In fact, Call of Duty: WWII was the best-selling Xbox One game ahead of FIFA 18.
In terms of exclusive games in the charts, it was dominated by PS4. Crash Bandicoot: N.Sane Trilogy is at No.6, Gran Turismo Sport at No.8 and Horizon: Zero Dawn at No.10. Horizon: Zero Dawn is also the best-selling new IP of 2017 (in terms of boxed sales, we're sure PlayerUnknown Battleground's would disagree otherwise). The next biggest exclusive was Mario Kart 8 Deluxe at No.11 for Nintendo Switch.
It wasn't a great year for new IP generally. There are 7 new IP in the Top 50 boxed charts, and only 4 of them were released in 2017.
Remarkably, Grand Theft Auto V continues to sell huge numbers, and was the third best-selling boxed game last year - beating Assassin's Creed: Origins and Star Wars Battlefront II. Crash Bandicoot also beat Destiny 2 to become Activision Blizzard's second biggest boxed game of the year (note: Destiny 2 sold strongly digitally).
THE UK TOP 100 BOXED GAMES 2017 (UKIE/GFK)
Rank | Title | Publisher/Developer |
---|---|---|
1 | FIFA 18 | EA/EA Canada |
2 | Call of Duty: WWII | Activision/Sledgehammer Games |
3 | Grand Theft Auto V | Rockstar/Rockstar North |
4 | Assassin's Creed Origins | Ubisoft/Ubisoft Montreal |
5 | Star Wars Battlefront II | EA/EA DICE |
6 | Crash Bandicoot N.Sane Trilogy | Activision/Vicarious Visions |
7 | Destiny 2 | Activision/Bungie |
8 | Gran Turismo Sport | Sony/Polyphony |
9 | Tom Clancy's Ghost Recon: Wildlands | Ubisoft/Ubisoft France |
10 | Horizon Zero Dawn | Sony/Guerrilla Games |
11 | Mario Kart 8: Deluxe | Nintendo |
12 | Super Mario Odyssey | Nintendo |
13 | Forza Horizon 3 | Microsoft/Playground Games |
14 | The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild | Nintendo |
15 | Call of Duty: Infinite Warfare | Activision/Infinity Ward |
16 | LEGO Worlds | Warner Bros/TT Games |
17 | FIFA 17 | EA/EA Canada |
18 | Resident Evil 7: Biohazard | Capcom |
19 | Fallout 4 | Bethesda |
20 | Forza Motorsport 7 | Microsoft/Turn 10 |
21 | Uncharted: The Lost Legacy | Sony/Naughty Dog |
22 | WWE 2K18 | 2K/Yukes |
23 | Rocket League | 505 Games/Psyonix |
24 | Middle-Earth: Shadow of War | Warner Bros |
25 | Mass Effect Andromeda | EA/BioWare |
26 | Tom Clancy's Rainbow 6: Siege | Ubisoft/Ubisoft Montreal |
27 | Minecraft: Xbox Edition | EA/4J studios |
28 | Doom | Bethesda/id Software |
29 | Overwatch | Blizzard |
30 | For Honor | Ubisoft/Ubisoft Montreal |
31 | Need for Speed Payback | EA/Ghost Games |
32 | Wolfenstein II: The New Colossus | Bethesda/Machine Games |
33 | Battlefield 1 | EA/EA Dice |
34 | The Sims 4 | EA/The Sims Studio |
35 | South Park: The Fractured But Whole | Ubisoft/Ubisoft San Francisco |
36 | Injustice 2 | Warner Bros/Netherrealm Studios |
37 | Dishonored 2 | Bethesda/Arkane Studios |
38 | Minecraft: PlayStation Edition | Sony/4J Studios |
39 | 1-2 Switch | Nintendo |
40 | Splatoon 2 | Nintendo |
41 | Mario + Rabbids: Kingdom Battle | Ubisoft/Ubisoft France |
42 | LEGO City Undercover | Warner Bros/TT Games |
43 | Prey | Bethesda/Arkane Studios |
44 | PlayerUnknown's Battlegrounds | Microsoft/Bluehole Studio |
45 | PlayStation VR Worlds | Sony/London Studio |
46 | LEGO Marvel Super Heroes 2 | Warner Bros/TT Games |
47 | Pokemon Ultra Sun | Nintendo/Game Freak |
48 | NBA 2K18 | 2K/Visual Concepts |
49 | F1 2017 | Codemasters/Codemasters Birmingham |
50 | Overwatch: Game Of The Year Edition | Blizzard |
51 | Pokemon Ultra Moon | Nintendo/Game Freak |
52 | The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim Special Edition | Bethesda |
53 | Sonic Forces | Sega/Sonic Team |
54 | Watch Dogs 2 | Ubisoft/Ubisoft Montreal |
55 | WWE 2K17 | 2K/Yukes |
56 | LEGO Star Wars: The Force Awakens | Warner Bros/TT Games |
57 | Just Dance 2018 | Ubisoft/Ubisoft France |
58 | Mario Kart 7 | Nintendo |
59 | Sniper Elite 4 | Sold Out/Rebellion |
60 | Mafia III | 2K Games/Hangar 13 |
61 | Hitman: The Complete First Season | Square Enix/IO Interactive |
62 | The LEGO Ninjago Movie Videogame | Warner Bros/TT Games |
63 | Dirt 4 | Codemasters |
64 | New Super Mario Bros 2 | Nintendo |
65 | Pokemon Sun | Nintendo/Game Freak |
66 | Tekken 7 | Bandai Namco |
67 | The Evil Within 2 | Bethesda/Tango Gameworks |
68 | LA Noire | Rockstar/Virtuos |
69 | LEGO Movie Avengers | Warner Bros/TT Games |
70 | Tom Clancy's The Division | Ubisoft/Massive |
71 | Uncharted 4: A Thief's End | Sony/Naughty Dog |
72 | Steep | Ubisoft/Ubisoft France |
73 | Hidden Agenda | Sony/Supermassive Games |
74 | Gears of War 4 | Microsoft/The Coalition |
75 | Pro Evolution Soccer 2018 | Konami |
76 | Knowledge Is Power | Sony/Wish Studios |
77 | Just Dance 2017 | Ubisoft/Ubisoft France |
78 | Ark: Survival Evolved | Studio Wildcard |
79 | Miitopia | Nintendo |
80 | Final Fantasy XV | Square Enix |
81 | Wipeout: Omega Collection | Sony/Clever Beans and EPOS |
82 | Football Manager 2018 | Sega/Sports Interactive |
83 | LEGO Jurassic World | Warner Bros/TT Games |
84 | Pokemon Moon | Nintendo/Game Freak |
85 | Minecraft: Story Mode - Complete Adventure | Telltale Games |
86 | Assassin's Creed: The Ezio Collection | Ubisoft/Ubisoft Montreal |
87 | Rayman Legends | Ubisoft/Ubisoft France |
88 | Micro Machines: World Series | Codemasters/Just Add Water |
89 | Mineraft: Story Mode - Season 2 | Telltale games |
90 | Tomodachi Life | Nintendo |
91 | Titanfall 2 | EA/Respawn |
92 | Star Wars Battlefront | EA/DICE |
93 | Halo Wars 2 | Microsoft/Creative Assembly |
94 | Super Mario Maker | Nintendo |
95 | Yooka-Laylee | Team17/Playtonic Games |
96 | Farpoint | Sony/Impulse Gear |
97 | The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt GOTY Edition | Bandai Namco/CD Projekt Red |
98 | NBA 2K17 | 2k/Visual Concepts |
99 | Halo 5: Guardians | Microsoft/343 Industries |
100 | Persona 5 | Atlus |