Mario Kart 8 returns to #1 because the Nintendo Switch rules Black Friday

Mario Kart 8: Deluxe was the number one game in the UK last week, thanks to deals on the Nintendo Switch console during Black Friday.

The Switch title, which has sold more than two million copies in the UK, jumped six places after increasing sales by 567% week on week. There was a Switch Black Friday console bundle with Mario Kart 8.

This means that No. 1, Pokémon Brilliant Diamond, last week fell by five places to No. 6 after a 57% drop in sales week after week. Its counterpart, Pokemon Shining Pearl, drops from no. 2 to n. 11 after sales fell 58%. If both matches were combined, they would be third in the standings together.

This chart is for actual sales only and does not count digital download numbers.

As Black Friday weeks went by, it was relatively weak by physical game sales standards. Black Friday game sales in the UK are down 10% from the same period in 2020, meaning 100,000 fewer games were sold this year than last year.

The second largest game on Black Friday was FIFA 22, which saw a sales increase of 145%, followed by Minecraft on the Switch, which had a sales increase of 258%.

Call of Duty: Vanguard took fourth place, selling roughly the same number of games this week as it did last week.

The full graph is full of games benefiting from the Black Friday deals. Guardians of the Galaxy 12 climbed positions to 5 after a 419% sales increase, Just Dance 2022 came in at number 7 after a 133% increase, Animal Crossing: New Horizons was ranked at number 8 thanks to a sales increase of 94%.% and Far Cry 6 ( No. 9) by 49%.

The other big news last week (that wasn’t Pokémon) was Battlefield 2042, which dropped to number 12 after sales fell 58%. The big news of the week was Farming Simulator 22, which debuted at number 13. The game sold best on PS4, taking 37% of sales, followed by Xbox (34%), PS5 (14%) and then PC. 14%).

Metroid Dread, after threatening to drop out of the Top 40 last week, has rebounded to No. 23 (sales up 190%). Meanwhile, recent releases have seen good weeks. Forza Horizon 5 dropped to #19 but sales actually increased by 5% week after week Jurassic World: Evolution 2 dropped to #34 but sales increased by 10% Mario Party Superstars increased by 105% in sales and again in the top ten .

Here are the top ten GfK UK Boxed books for the week ending November 27