Latest Gaming News

UK software market reaches all time high

7th January 2004, 8:35am
Tuesday 6 January 2004/... ELSPA, the Entertainment and Leisure Software Publishers Association, today announced the continued buoyant growth in the UK computer and video games market. UK sales of leisure software products reached an all time high in 2003, with values reaching £1.26 billion, an increase of 7.1 per cent over the previous year.

Roger Bennett, director general of ELSPA, said: "Once again, the UK industry has seen its most successful year ever. The UK video games industry sales have been on the rise for the last 20 years – it topped the £2 billion mark for the first time in 2002 and this year, once the final figures for all hardware are compiled, will see that dynamic trend continue.

"2003 has also provided substantial evidence of the way video games have been integrated into mainstream entertainment culture, such as the very first prime-time terrestrial TV awards show, the first official 'book' created by Ladbrokes and the launch of a dedicated monthly gaming supplement in that British media bastion, The Sunday Times. I am confident we, as an industry, will continue to drive initiatives – Game Stars Live, European Games Network, London Interactive - that will garner new audiences from every demographic and age group."

Christmas was a particularly strong selling period with a record 15 titles achieving platinum status (300,000 units) in the 10 weeks leading up to week 52 and Electronic Arts' FIFA 2004 reaching double platinum status (600,000 units) in the same period.

Electronic Arts contributed substantially to the ongoing growth cycle, with 14 titles in the top 40 for the year, including five titles in the top 10. The top 40 product mix featured six sports titles, 10 titles based on film and TV franchises (including Harry Potter, Lord Of The Rings, The Matrix, Finding Nemo and The Simpsons), while FIFA 2004 was the overall winner.

The presence of three next generation consoles – PS2, Xbox and GameCube – helped to increase software sales with the majority of best sellers being multi-format. Sales for the older generation console, PSOne, were still strong with titles such as Dancing Stage (Konami) charting at number 21 for the year and Nintendo's Game Boy Advance performed well across a wide range of titles with Pokemon Ruby and Sapphire both in the top 40.

Despite no new home consoles being released in 2003, console sales stayed steady at four million units, with the PS2 installed base topping the five million mark in the UK. The impact of the Game Boy Advance SP and the Nokia N-Gage are still to be evaluated.

About the ELSPA Volume Sales Awards
The ELSPA Volume Sales Awards (based on official Chart-Track retail sales figures) have become the benchmark for measuring the sales success of computer and video games titles.
Silver = sales of 100k+ units
Gold = sales of 200k+ units
Platinum = sales of 300k+ units
Double Platinum = sales of 600k+ units
Diamond = sales of over 1 million units

The UK Interactive Leisure Software Industry - Facts & Figures from ELSPA/Screen Digest:

  • The UK is a world centre for games development.
  • In 2002, UK sales of video games, other leisure software products and games consoles reached an all time high of just over £2 billion, an 8% increase on the previous year.
  • 20,644 people are employed in the UK leisure software sector (most recent figure for year 2000).
  • British developed games generated more than £1.1 billion in retail sales outside the UK in year 2000. 33% of all PS2 games bought in Europe originate in the UK (the same proportion as US originated products and ahead of Japan and any other country).

Posters Note
Hopefully we will have some Australian data soon on 2003 game sales

Share |
by Robert Gardner