UK hardware, software charts for 2023

Well, that’s a wrap for 2023, gang. Actually, we wrapped things up 9 days ago now, but it takes some time to crunch the numbers for an entire year! While we’re still waiting on the 2023 breakdown for the U.S. last year, we do have the full stats on how hardware and software sales played out in the UK.

Let’s kick things off with the top 20 software titles in the UK for 2023. Please remember that this chart includes digital and physical sales combined, but Nintendo doesn’t report digital sales figures, so any Nintendo games on the list reflect physical sales only.

1. EA Sports FC 24 (EA)
2. Hogwarts Legacy (Warner Bros)
3. Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 3 (Activision Blizzard)
4. FIFA 23 (EA)
5. Grand Theft Auto 5 (Rockstar)
6. Spider-Man 2 (Sony)
7. Star Wars Jedi: Survivor (EA)
8. Red Dead Redemption 2 (Rockstar)
9. The Legend of Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom (Nintendo)
10. Diablo 4 (Activision Blizzard)
11. Super Mario Bros Wonder (Nintendo)
12. Hogwarts Legacy (Warner Bros)
13. Mario Kart 8: Deluxe (Nintendo)
14. Assassin’s Creed Mirage (Ubisoft)
15. Resident Evil 4 Remake (Capcom)
16. NBA 2K23 (2K Games)
17. LEGO Star Wars: The Skywalker Saga (Warner Bros)
18. WWE 2K23 (2K Games)
19. F1 23 (EA/Codemasters)
20. Grand Theft Auto Online (Rockstar)

We also have some more detailed stats on software for the UK:

• 38 million video games were sold in the UK during 2023
• this is an increase of 2.6% over the year before
• EA Sports FC 24 sales were down 8.4% over the previous installment to 2.39 million units
• within the Top 100 are Mortal Kombat 1 (No.30), Sonic Superstars (No.63), Just Dance 2024 (No.81)

Now let’s move on to the hardware side of things. Here’s how sales shook out for the big 3 in 2023.

• PS5 was #1, with a rise in sales of 55% year-on-year
• Switch was #2, with a drop in sales of 17% year-on-year
• Xbox Series X/S were #3, with a drop in sales of 14% year-on-year

Overall, 2.38 million consoles were sold in the UK for 2023, marking a 9.4% over the year before. As you can probably tell, the PS5 was a major driver in the hardware sales uptick, but even more impressive was the PS4. That system saw a whopping 633% increase year-on-year.