Xbox backwards compatibility sends old Call of Duty games back into the Top Five | UK Monthly Charts

2009's Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2 and 2012's Call of Duty: Black Ops 2 were two of the best-selling video games in the UK last month.

Both games had their matchmaking fixed on Xbox platforms, and were also discounted in the Xbox Ultimate Game Sale, which sent Modern Warfare 2 to No.5, while Black Ops 2 returns at No.4.

Black Ops 2 was on sale for £11.99 and Modern Warfare 2 could be picked up for £12.49.

Both Xbox and PlayStation ran aggressive digital game sales, which have transformed the chart. Grand Theft Auto 5 and Red Dead Redemption 2 jumped up to No.2 and No.3 respectively. Both of Rockstar's games were discounted on all Xbox and PlayStation platforms, with the PS4 versions on sale for under £15.

But it was FIFA 23 that was No.1 for the month.

In total, 2.36 million digital and physical AAA video games were sold in the UK during July, up 31% over the year before.

1.66 million games were sold via digital download stores (up 40% year-on-year), while 701,000 were sold via physical outlets (up 12%).

The highest charting game that was actually released in 2023 was Hogwarts Legacy in sixth position.

In terms of new game released in July, the highest charting title is Pikmin 4 at No.23. Nintendo doesn't share digital sales with the charts, so it may be that the game would have charted higher if we knew the download figures. If we just look at physical sales for the month, Pikmin 4 was the fifth best-selling game.

All software data is courtesy of GSD.

Over in hardware, and sales of games consoles in July dropped 7% month-on-month in the UK, according to GfK panel data. However, compared with July 2022, sales are actually up 7%.

PlayStation 5 remains the market leading format, with sales once again driven by pricing activity on the standard version of the console. PS5 sold very slightly more units in July than it did in June. By the end of July, PS5 sales are up 68% year-to-date. That's already jumped further in August.

The same isn't true for Nintendo Switch, which saw sales slide 15% in July compared with the month before. Year-to-date, Switch sales are down 8.5% for the first seven months of the year.

In third position is Xbox Series S and X. Microsoft's console saw sales tumble 12% in July compared with June. So far this year, Xbox console sales are down 22.8%.

As an aside, sales of PS4 are up 331% so far this year.

Finally, nearly 550,000 accessores were sold in the UK during July, a drop of 3% over June and 3% over July last year.

The charts are dominated by Sony DualSense controllers. The White edition retakes No.1 from the Black version, while Starlight Blue rises 14 places to No.18 and Grey Camo jumps five places to No.5. The Cosmic Red edition also jumped 11 positions to No.20. The controllers have benefitted from strong sales of PS5, plus some pricing activity at major retailers. The rest of the Top Ten is made up of Xbox controllers and Turtle Beach headsets, with Ear Force 50X at No.7 and Ear Force 50P at No.10.

UK GSD July 2023 Top 10 (Digital + Physical)

* Digital data unavailable

GSD digital data includes games from participating companies sold via PC digital stores, Xbox Live, PlayStation Network, Nintendo Eshop. Major participating companies are Activision Blizzard, Bandai Namco, Capcom, Codemasters, Electronic Arts, Embracer Group (including Gearbox, Koch Media, Sabre Interactive), Focus Entertainment, Kepler, Konami, Marvellous Games, Microids, Microsoft (including Bethesda), Milestone, Nacon, Paradox Interactive, Quantic Dream, Sega, Sony, Square Enix, Take-Two, Ubisoft and Warner Bros. Nintendo and 505 Games are the notable absentees, alongside smaller studios.