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Sony has increased its share of the console software market to 58 per cent.
Kantar Worldpanel attributes the boost to PlayStation 4 exclusive, Marvel’s Spider-Man, stating it shifted almost 50% more copies than the highest selling game – Crash Bandicoot N. Sane Trilogy – in the equivalent period last year.
"Marvel’s Spider-Man on the PlayStation 4 was a massive coup for Sony," said Kantar analyst, Sam Causley, detailing how Sony’s share of the market has improved in the 12 weeks leading to September 23rd, 2018. "The game sold more copies in the first two months of its release than any PlayStation 4 exclusive in history, suggesting its extensive marketing campaign was well worth the investment.
"With Sony teasing fans in October by confirming that it is working on a fifth version of the PlayStation, it will be interesting to see whether future titles can replicate the game’s popularity. Although this new console isn’t expected to launch until around 2020, the manufacturer will hope that the start of the countdown will generate more excitement around its games, rather than stunting sales of its current products."
Retailer Amazon, on the other hand, has strengthened its position as the UK’s leading retailer after a 60 per cent increase in new video game sales, widening the gap with HMV – its biggest competitor – to 5 percentage points (23.2 per cent and 18.5 per cent respectively). Amazon’s success is thought to have been "driven primarily by under 35 males, who accounted for £3.9 million of the £7.9 million growth", said to be "a core demographic for video games".
Spider-Man epic smashed records at UK retail, giving the PlayStation 4 its biggest week-one sales of any title to date in 2018. It edged out Far Cry 5 for the top spot – despite that title being multi-platform – and smashed stablemate God of War, with almost twice the sales that Kratos racked up back in April.
