Black Friday is one of the biggest days for video game sales around the world. Whether it be bundles for consoles, price slashes on accessories, or big discounts on games new and old, Black Friday is a wonderful opportunity to take advantage of sales on all things video games. But 2020 is a bit different than other years, and a recent report shows that Black Friday sales were down 20% over 2019 in the physical sales department in the UK.
GamesInsider.biz released information today on the video game sales over the past week. Over one million boxed games were sold in the last seven days, which is the biggest week of the year for the UK so far. However, last year the number was about 1.3 million over that same period. Nintendo posted perhaps the best numbers overall, adding to the Nintendo and the Switch's success in 2019.
Many predicted that Nintendo would dominate the holiday season, and with this sample size anyway, that seems to be true. Switch games accounted for 38% of all physical game sales, which is impressive given the fact that the PS5 and Xbox Series X/S just launched. Even when physical sales as a whole were down for Black Friday 2020 compared to 2019, Nintendo Switch games actually improved by 9%. Perhaps not surprisingly, Animal Crossing: New Horizons was the best seller for Switch games, followed by Mario Kart 8: Deluxe, as well as titles like Minecraft and Super Mario 3D All Stars.
In terms of console sales, the big three all had a successful week. According to the report, Nintendo Switches, PS5s, and Xbox Series X/Ss were all sold out basically everywhere. While it is a bummer to not find the consoles on the shelves for consumers, the fact that the consoles are swiped up so quickly means that they are in high demand, which is a good thing for Nintendo, Sony, and Microsoft.
When considering the fact that the UK lockdown has been in effect over this period, the 20% drop off makes sense. The lockdown is in place until December 3, 2020, and simply purchasing physical games at a retailer is much more difficult than normal. It's plausible to think that if the lockdown wasn't in effect, that 20% drop off wouldn't exist, and perhaps sales would even be up over last year.
Another theory in the drop-off has to do with the rise of digital sales. As the world, economy, and technology continues to progress and evolve, digital sales have overtaken physical sales. In fact, even with the Big N having a home run week in the UK, Nintendo recently reported that it sells more digital games than physical ones. And as most of the digital storefronts have their own Black Friday and Cyber Monday sales, it only seems logical that digital sales will continue to rise.
Source: GamesIndustry.biz