10 January 2023 , 16:35
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The Switch has been crowned the UK’s best-selling console for 2022, despite having the worst version of FIFA 23.
To the surprise of absolutely no one, the Nintendo Switch was once again the best-selling console in the UK for 2022, leaving the PS5 and Xbox Series X|S to fight over second place. FIFA 23 took home the cup for the best-selling game of the year ahead of Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2 and LEGO Star Wars: The Skywalker Saga, while Elden Ring came in 4th.
According to GSD market data that tracks both physical and digital sales, 34.2 million games were sold in the UK last year, down 6% from the previous year (2021). Two million game consoles were sold in the UK last year, according to GfK sales data published by GamesIndustry.biz.
Nintendo’s portable powerhouse topped hardware sales for a third year, ahead of the PS5 and Xbox Series X that took second and third place, respectively. Though, less than 60,000 systems separated the three consoles.
Console sales were down 29% from 2021. This drop was believed to be because of slowing Switch sales and continuing PS5 and Xbox Series X supply shortages.
FIFA 23 TOTW 14 squad confirmed featuring Lautaro Martinez and Dani Olmo
Six years of Switch success without a decent FIFA
Some may be surprised that the Switch is still the best-selling console in the UK as it approaches its sixth year on the market. You would think that with the hardware shortages that plagued the PS5 and Xbox Series X coming to an end, and far better versions of popular sports games like FIFA only available on Sony and Microsoft's machines, they would start to pull ahead of the Switch.
Although I believe that is starting to be the case, or they’re at least closing the gap. What with the PS5 selling 30 million units, in just two years, during a pandemic, with widespread parts shortages. That’s no mean feat.
What is a headscratcher is that the console has managed to pull so far ahead of the competition despite having almost no support from EA Sports.
The yearly FIFA port on the Switch is relegated to a 'Legacy' Edition. A piffling afterthought that EA still has the stones to sell at full price for five years in a row, even though it's essentially the Xbox 360 version of FIFA 17 in a new box, with the numbers filled off and players' names changed. Not that you can tell who is who in this abomination of a football game. I would rather EA just ported Sensible Soccer to the Switch and pretended it was the new FIFA. At least it would be fun to play.
But the state of FIFA on the console hasn't made a blind bit of difference because people don't buy Nintendo machines for third-party titles and never have. It's top-tier exclusives and decades-long series like Mario Kart, Kirby, and Zelda.
The Switch has become one of those consoles, much like the Wii before it, that everyone just has. But, unlike the Wii, it doesn’t feel like a fad. People are buying games for the Switch, and enjoy using it. I have friends who have never really been gamers, have never bought a console for themselves, and now own a Switch OLED and are 200 hours deep into Animal Crossing: New Horizons.
What Nintendo has done with the Switch is the evolution of everything that came before it. It might not have the same name, but in many subtle ways, it is the Wii Mark 3. The Joy-Cons are souped-up, slimmed-down Wiimotes. Its main gimmick of easy on-the-go and at-home play is the next logical step from the Wii U's off-TV mode, which was the console's best feature.
The biggest question we’re left with after more than half a decade of Switch dominance is: can Nintendo pull this off again? I would like to that it could as long as whatever is next from the big N isn't just change for the sake of change.
If it can do that then maybe EA might finally pull its finger out and give Nintendo’s next machine a proper version of FIFA for once.