FIFA 22 sold 35% fewer physical copies in the UK at launch than FIFA 21

Launch week UK sales of physical copies of FIFA 22 are down 35% year-on-year compared to last year’s version.

GamesIndustry.biz reports that while FIFA 22 entered the UK charts straight at number 1 as expected, EA still sold noticeably fewer boxed copies than when FIFA 21 launched last year.

This continues a downward trend for physical sales of the game, as FIFA 21 itself sold 42% fewer boxed copies at launch than FIFA 20.

It’s important to note that this news does not necessarily mean FIFA 22 has underperformed on its launch week compared to last year’s game.

The above sales figures don’t take into account digital sales of the game, and as GamesIndustry points out, last year more players bought the digital version of FIFA than the physical one.

EA offers a 10% discount on its digital games for members of its EA Play subscription service (which is included with Xbox Game Pass Ultimate), and offered a further 10% discount on FIFA 22 to anyone who pre-ordered it through an in-game link in FIFA 21.

As such, regular players of the series would have been able to buy the digital version of the game for up to 20% cheaper than the physical version, which may have led to increased digital sales.

GamesIndustry also reports that of the physical copies of FIFA 22 sold this week, 64% were on PlayStation consoles.

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41% of sales were on PS4 while 23% were on PS5. Meanwhile 27% were on Xbox One while just 4% were on Xbox Series X. Again, this may be due to increased digital sales on Xbox consoles, especially the digital-only Xbox Series S.

5% of sales were on Switch, despite FIFA 22 being the system’s third Legacy Edition, essentially making it FIFA 19 with squad and kit updates.

Elsewhere in the UK charts, Mario Kart 8 Deluxe dropped to number 2, while the delayed physical version of Sonic Colours Ultimate was a new entry at number 3. Hot Wheels Unleased was the only other new entry, coming in at number 4.