Nintendo dominated UK games market over Christmas

Nintendo was the UK's biggest publisher of physical games in December.

The UKIE/GfK report revealed that over 30 per cent of all games sold in December were on Nintendo platforms (29.5 per cent on Nintendo Switch alone). It made the console the No.2 most popular platform behind PS4, which accounted for 39.7 per cent of all games sold last month.

Nintendo's success was driven by Super Smash Bros Ultimate, which was the biggest new release of the month and shifted 284,155 games in physical form alone.

However, it wasn't the best-selling game of December. The top selling titles were Red Dead Redemption 2 at No.1, followed by FIFA 19 and then Call of Duty: Black Ops 4. Smash Bros had to settle for No.4.

It was one of two Nintendo games in the Top Ten, with Mario Kart 8: Deluxe at No.7. Pokémon Let's Go: Pikachu also sold well reaching No.12, and if sales had been combined with its Eevee sister edition, the game would have reached No.8.

Overall, Nintendo-published games accounted for 19.3 per cent of all games sold, ahead of EA, which accounted for 13.6 per cent (driven primarily by FIFA 19 and Battlefield V).

The other new release of December, Just Cause 4 from Square Enix, debuted in 14th position.

Overall, 5.5 million games were sold in December last year, which is down 6 per cent compared with December 2017. However, software revenue hit £182.7 million, which is pretty much flat year-on-year.

Here is the UK's Full Top 20 (boxed) for December: