Xbox One physical software sales down year over year in UK

With a move to a digital marketplace taking place at an increasing speed, physical software sales on consoles have found their numbers dwindling. While Call of Duty: WWII, for example, has held strong on the UK charts for the past 9 weeks, and other games have respectable physical sales as well, it appears this didn’t benefit Xbox much. MCVUK reports that physical sales on Xbox One actually fell compared to last year.

Year over year, Xbox One physical software sales dipped by 11.1% in the UK. This number is being attributed to the console’s weak exclusives lineup, which has become a point of contention among Xbox players. Xbox’s main competition, the PlayStation 4, saw physical sales on it rise 6.6% year over year.

Microsoft has of course made a big push to improve its unified digital ecosystem. Programs like Xbox Game Pass, Xbox Play Anywhere, and more encourage players to dive into the digital sphere. The success of these services could also factor into the slump in physical sales seen in the UK. PlayStation, on the other hand, falls behind Xbox when it comes to services like these. As one analyst states, Microsoft should put more of its focus into its digital ecosystem instead of trying to catch up with Sony this generation.

Despite Xbox’s drop, the market as a whole moved up by 2.1%, but accounting for the rate of inflation for consumer prices, it’s effectively stayed the same.