UK physical market drops 16% in October as downloads increase

FIFA 18 was comfortably the best-selling boxed game in a slower-than-usual month for UK game sales.

Physical sales are down 16% compared with the same period a year before, with just under 2m units sold.

It follows our report this morning which states that downloading has increased significantly since last year. This may be partially driven by the higher price of games at physical retail. The average cost of boxed games in October 2017 was £40.26, compared with £37.98 during the same period a year before (all data courtesy of UKIE/GfK).

PS4 remains the dominant force at physical retail, accounting for 52% of all boxed games sold last month. Xbox One made up 30.4%, whereas Switch now sits at 10% - its best result since April. The rest is made up of 360, PS3, 3DS, Wii, Wii U, PC and Vita.

The No.1 game for the second month in a row is FIFA 18. The title made EA the No.1 publisher for the month. Ubisoft jumped up to No.2 in the publisher rankings thanks to three releases in the form of South Park: The Fractured But Whole, Just Dance 2018 and Assassin's Creed Origins. Nintendo makes up third place once again, with help from Super Mario Odyssey (which had only been on sale briefly when this data was compiled). Warner Bros is No.4 following the launch of Middle-earth: Shadow of War and The LEGO Ninjago Movie Videogame.

FIFA dominates most individual game charts, except Switch (Super Mario Odyssey), Vita (Chaos: Child), Wii (Just Dance 2018), Wii U (Super Mario 3D World), DS (Fireman Sam), 3DS (Miitopia) and PC (Destiny 2).

There are ten new games in the Top 20 UK physical charts.

Here is the UKIE/GfK chart for October 1st - October 28th: