2020 was a rough year for many industries. Due to COVID-19 and the global pandemic, many markets were either severely restricted or shut down entirely. For gaming however, this unfortunate situation served as a boon for the industry. Throughout 2020, the industry went through record growth in many aspects, and it has now been confirmed that Sony, Microsoft and Nintendo all sold more consoles in the UK in 2020 than 2019.

As reported by Gamesindustry.biz, in the UK, over 3 million consoles were sold across 2020 – roughly 800,000 more consoles than in 2019. In 2020, Nintendo sold 1.5 million Switch consoles, an increase of 50% when compared to 2019. Sony meanwhile sold 900,000 PS4 and PS5 consoles, compared to 700,000 the year prior.

Of course, the PS5 only released in late 2020, but it reportedly contributed to half of all PlayStation sales for the year. Lastly, Microsoft sold 600,000 Xboxes in 2020, 310,000 of which was either an Xbox Series X or S, and in total sold 100,000 more consoles than the year prior.

That being said, despite this growth, the video game industry was impacted by COVID-19 to some degree. All three console manufacturers suffered from stock issues, in particular Sony and Microsoft with the PS5 and Series X|S. It would have been interesting to see just how many consoles all three manufacturers would have sold had stock not been an issue.

With both the PS5 and Series X|S still suffering from major stock shortages, it will be interesting to see how console sales line up come the end of the year, and whether the industry will continue to go from strength to strength.

KitGuru says: Are you surprised by this growth? Did you buy a console in 2020? Do you think 2021 will surpass it? Let us know down below.

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