Nintendo Switch leads the pack in EMEAA console sales for January 2020

Nintendo Switch consoles were selling like hotcakes last January 2020. The latest figures last month reveal that more than half of console sales within EMEAA territories were of the Nintendo gaming machine.

According to GamesIndustry.biz, the Nintendo Switch account for 52 percent of all consoles sold across the retail markets in EMEAA. The report also noted that the Neon version of the gaming hardware is the most popular individual product. EMEAA stands for Europe, Middle East, Africa, Asia, and Australia.

Nintendo Switch sales rose by more than 17 percent in January 2020 compared to January 2019. This is even more surprising when taking into account that console sales as a whole contracted by around 15.8 percent during the same period. As a result, revenue for the entire niche dipped by 13.1 percent.

While console sales are down, there was a slight increase in the sales for AAA titles. According to the report, more than 15 million AAA games were sold across EMEAA territories or an increase of around 1.1 percent compared to year-ago levels.

The report noted that around 6.6 million physical games were sold last month but this represents a slight 5.6 decline compared to January 2019 sales. The decline is mainly due to the lack of new big games launches last month compared to the launch of “New Super Mario Bros U Deluxe” and “Resident Evil 2” which were launched in the previous year. Physical game sales usually spike when new big games are released.

While physical game sales slumped, game download is where the action was. There were around 8.45 million full game downloads last month across EMEAA markets. The most popular titles were “Grand Theft Auto 5,” “FIFA 20,” and “Tom Clancy’s Rainbow Six Siege.”

Meanwhile, 50 percent of game sales were for on the PS4 console. At second place is PC with 18.8 percent market share, Nintendo Switch console is at third place with 16.3 percent of game sales happening via the platform, and Xbox One with its 11.9 percent of game sales.

The biggest market within the EMEAA is the UK, which accounts for 16.1 percent of software sales. France comes next with 14.5 percent market share followed by Germany at 11.8 percent of all digital games downloads.