UK retail games sales the worst since records began

by Mark Tyson on 3 August 2012, 18:07

Tags: Sega (TYO:6460), GAME, HMV

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While the Olympics games are heating up, computer gaming demand seems to be cooling down. New statistics show that the UK games market hit an all-time low last week. Only £8.4 million worth of games were sold by UK retailers. The number of games sold during the week was actually 394,000.

No surprises

To industry insiders it is not such a shock as figures have barely been much higher over preceding weeks. This time of year is a traditional low point for UK games sales as people make the most of the great British summer. Of course the Olympics being in the UK can’t help game sales with a lot of people using their screen time to watch the sporting events or even being inspired to do a bit of sporty exercise outside. Actually one game is quite popular right now, its Sega’s official Olympics game, at number one in the chart.

As readers will know, the UK games retailers have been having a hard time with closures, restructuring and not selling many games for quite a while. These latest figures don’t take into account digital download games, a games delivery format which is in the ascendency.

Sales will pick up in Q4

In the latter half of 2012 MCV expects a strong selling period for games with 20 games expecting to generate over £320 million in Q4. All the current generation consoles have been around for a good few years which hasn’t helped the games retail market but there may be a bright spot with the release of the Wii U system during Q4, if it is priced to sell and has a good roster of launch titles.



HEXUS Forums :: 26 Comments

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I sure you need to make good games for everyone to buy! Vita has been out now for ages and still has no games.
Console gaming has more-or-less gone stale and all the innovative games popping up on PC are inevitably digital.
I would buy more if they weren't £45-50. In the current market, I just play games a few months after they come out, at a reduced price, rented from lovefilm or borrowed from a trading club/preowned if the price hasn't dropped to an acceptable level by then.

It's the same concept as itunes etc. If the prices are better, people will buy more. The economic argument of cost of manufacture per item as a deterrent to low prices is irrelevant when you have downloadable games.
Steam FTW, if you are a retail chain and failing badly then I have no sympathy, you cannot rely on the same business model forever.
Oh and agreed about Steam. I have been watching the prices for Batman Arkham Asylum and Batman Arkham City for a while now in my local retail shops (GAME, HMV) because I was thinking of trying them, and they're still around £20+ each for a preowned copy. I recently bought both the GOTY edition of Arkham Asylum, Arkham City AND the Harley Quinn DLC pack all together for under £13 on Steam. Wow! No competition.