PS5 and Nintendo Switch 2 sales in UK nosedive during ‘tough’ November

Nintendo console sales are down in November, despite the launch of the Switch 2 this year, as the UK mirrors the downturn in the US.

While PlayStation 5, Nintendo Switch, and Xbox Series X/S console sales have expectedly dropped over the past few years, as the generation comes to an end, they recently took a notable plunge in the US.

As reported earlier this week, US console sales had their worst November since records began, with a 27% drop in hardware spending compared to last year. This downturn includes combined sales of the Nintendo Switch and Switch 2, which were down 10% from Switch sales last year, despite the fact Nintendo’s new console only launched in June.

According to new data, this sudden drop has also happened in the UK, in what’s been described as a ‘really tough month for games’.

As reported by The Game Business co-founder Christopher Dring (via NielsenIQ data), Nintendo console sales in November across the Switch and Switch 2 were down 19% year-on-year in the UK. PlayStation 5 sales, meanwhile, were down 57%, while Xbox Series X/S sales fell by a whopping 78%.

There are some caveats. While Dring doesn’t specify the exact timeframe for this data, he has noted that Black Friday sales are not included in these metrics. These figures are also based on units and not revenue, which is the opposite of the US numbers.

According to The Game Business, earlier this month, PlayStation 5 sales during Black Friday week were up 16% compared to the previous year in the UK, with Sony’s console taking up a 62% share of all console sales. Which is unsurprising as the deals were unusually generous this year.

But while the overall picture for Sony might be better when including Black Friday sales, it still might not be enough to offset a general downturn.

It’s also worth noting that Sony’s PlayStation 5 discounts went live on November 21, a week before Black Friday on November 28, so the original figures should still include some discounted sales. Similarly, discounts on the Nintendo Switch 2 started popping up as early as late October.

Even without the Black Friday week though, the comparison to last year’s numbers is still notable – as those (via GamesIndustry.biz) didn’t include the Black Friday week either.

While sales for the PlayStation 5 and Xbox Series X/S are expected to decline at this point in the consoles’ lifecycle, the most puzzling aspect is the drop in Nintendo sales, in light of the Switch 2.

There’s a chance many simply invested early at launch, which made it the fastest selling console ever, but by the time it got to November the fact that it was almost twice the price of the discounted PlayStation 5 made it seem less appealing.

Beyond console sales, November has been a ‘tough month’ for games generally, according to Dring. ‘Battlefield Redsec doesn’t seem to have done much at all,’ he wrote on X. ‘There were more Call Of Duty players in October than in November. Console sales all plunged. Fortnite had a decent month, but still below 2024. Anno 117 did very well in Europe.’

As noted in a report on The Game Business summing up November, Call Of Duty: Black Ops 7 was beaten by EA Sports FC 26 as the best-selling game of the month in Europe. The latest instalment of EA’s football sim launched in September, so it’s another sign Black Ops 7 has drastically fallen short of Activision’s expectations.

The overall sales for the year will be more indicative of how consoles have fared in 2025, but it’s still a troubling sign when sales during the peak festive season have fallen by so much.

Email gamecentral@metro.co.uk, leave a comment below, follow us on Twitter.

To submit Inbox letters and Reader’s Features more easily, without the need to send an email, just use our Submit Stuff page here.

For more stories like this, check our Gaming page.

Comments


Add as preferred source