COVID-19 may have choked out Sony Pictures Entertainment this summer, but Sony Interactive Entertainment brought in the bucks while stomping all over the June UK console game sales charts. Sony’s The Last of Us: Part II dominated with over 4 million physical copies shipped worldwide. That put the hotly-anticipated sequel title so far in the lead it sold more that every other game in the top 10 combined. Nintendo was the biggest casualty of the beating, losing it’s crown as best-selling game publisher.
Nintendo topped the UK charts in May, but could not hold off Sony with comparatively weak releases Xenoblade Chronicles: Definitive Edition and 51 Worldwide Games - suggesting Nintendo may have just conceded the month to Sony.
The Last of Us: Part II became the fastest-selling Playstation exclusive title, and it’s fast rise brought along a few other ships. The Last of Us: Remastered got a familial boost, and snuck its way in to 9th place. Other strong Sony sellers included Marvel’s Spider-Man, Days Gone, Horizon: Zero Dawn, and God of War. Gameindustry.biz reports that the sales meant “[o]ver 29% of all boxed games sold in the UK during June were published by Sony, with the company also generating 37% of the month’s boxed software revenue.” A choke hold indeed.
There is no apparent data on how many new console sales resulted specifically from the exclusivity of The Last of Us: Part II, but Playstation 4 sales continue to increase through the COVID-19 lockdown. XBox and Nintendo Switch share that bounty, but June belongs to Playstation - at least as far as the UK market is concerned.
No one knows what July will look like, but perhaps Nintendo should keep an eye over their shoulder…
MORE: 10 Games To Play If You Love The Last Of Us Part 2
