UK Shows Record Game Sales, Xmas Hardware Decline

Posted by simoniker on Tuesday January 6, 2004 @07:25PM from the up-side-and-down-side dept.

Thanks to Reuters for their story indicating that the UK videogame software market swelled to a new high of 1.26 billion UKP (2.29 billion USD) in 2003. The piece points out the increasing success of publisher Electronic Arts, "which notched up five of the top 10 selling titles, and the top four overall", and the original ELSPA press release notes that soccer title "FIFA 2004 was the overall [sales] winner." However, Gamesindustry.biz weighs in by revealing that "total [console hardware] units sold over the crucial Christmas period were down by over 10 per cent year on year", and pointing out that "the overall picture clearly indicates that hardware sales have peaked a year earlier than some analysts predicted - meaning the next two Christmases will be even more challenging for retailers, with discounted software likely to be rife as they battle for market share." The dominance of the PlayStation 2 at UK retail is supreme, though, as: "Over the crucial last four weeks, the PS2 outsold the Xbox by 2.69 to one, and the sixty-pounds-cheaper Cube by 4.81 to one."

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Re:suprising the ps2 outsold the cube by so much. by Babbster · 2004-01-06 21:07 · Score: 2, Insightful

It has diddly to do with releasing a Pokemon game and everything to do with the fact that Nintendo can't seem to release more than 4-5 big first-party titles a year (not to mention that the UK/European market sucks hind teat when it comes to GC game releases). Microsoft and Sony can get away with having relatively few first-party hits since their third-party support is solid - dual-platform games are generally more likely to be PS2/Xbox than they are to be PS2/GC or [obviously] Xbox/GC, and the list of third-party GC exclusives is anemic at best.
Of course, all three companies could do better in the UK if they would all acknowledge that the US and UK speak the same language (at least close enough for jazz) and give that country near-concurrent release dates with the US. I know it irks English gamers that they usually have to wait for French/German/Spanish/etc. translations to be done before they get to play a game, and they can often get games faster by buying a US console and importing - something that weakens game sales at regular UK outlets and which game companies discourage.