2003's Best-Selling UK Games Analyzed

Thanks to an anonymous reader for pointing to a Gamesindustry.biz article analyzing the best-selling UK videogames of 2003 so far. This intriguing analysis also includes sales figures, often difficult to come by in US charts, and notes the biggest selling all-formats title was The Sims, with "..total sales to date across the three console formats.. [of] a whisker short of 300,000, with the PS2 sales of the game accounting for over 90 per cent of that figure." Close behind it was soccer sim Championship Manager 4, which "tempted over a quarter of a million PC owners to part with their cash." Overall, they gave 'top marks', amongst others, to "Ubi Soft for bothering to port Splinter Cell properly", and 'must try harder' to "Sony for ignoring [marketing efforts for] any first party titles not developed in the UK."

Comments

Re:Stat Analysis - Japanese Developers

[Kris_J]

Since I don't know what TRST stands for, this probably isn't a meaninful conclusion, but if it's an english-language chart, then the results probably reflect the fact that most Japanese games aren't properly marketed outside of Japan. Mostly the UK/US managers don't have a clue what to do with Japanese games. They don't understand the target audience anymore than the game itself. I'm reminded of a quote: "The trailer for a movie always reflects what the executives wanted the director to make." Or something similar. Anyone know the source of that wisdom? What happens is that if the advertising is too far from the product, the people who would have enjoyed it won't try it and the people who do try it won't enjoy it.

Re:So..

[MojoMonkey]

There's a difference between a year and a fiscal year. July 1st is the end of the fiscal year for many businesses.