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.
