Chart-Track: UK Game Market Increases In 2005

Data compiled by UK firm Chart-Track and reported by British video game trade paper MCV shows that game hardware sales rose by 34 percent in the UK during 2005. The value of hardware sales rose by an impressive 222 percent, with 3.75 million units of console hardware being sold in total, compared to 2.80 million in 2004. The UK experienced four hardware launches during 2005, with the Nintendo DS having totalled 800,000 unit sales since its debut in March. Despite its delayed launch in September, the PSP has almost equaled this figure with 795,000 sales, according to Chart-Track and MCV. Approximately 129,000 Xbox 360 consoles have been sold since its launch in December, with little additional stock yet being made available despite considerable demand. No specific figures are given for the Game Boy Micro, which launched in the UK in November, but the Game Boy Advance SP is credited with a sell through of around 63,000 units. The best selling console of the year was, unsurprisingly, the PlayStation 2 with 1.2 million units sold over the twelve months, while the original Xbox sold around 265,000 units. No figures were given for the GameCube, which has not performed well in the UK now for some years. In terms of overall software sales for the year, the UK market also performed well with total revenues reaching £1.350 billion ($2.374 billion). 61.3 million game software units were sold in total, up 2.6 percent on 2004. The only disappointment was in the last week of the year – usually a significant sales period – where PlayStation 2 full price unit sales were down 47 percent and Xbox down by 51 percent.