UK Hardware Sells 32 Million Units Life To Date

U.K.-based specialty retailer GAME has unveiled the life-to-date sales figures (to the end of 2008) of today's major video game consoles in the region. Citing a combination of internal data and figures from Chart-Track, GAME said the Nintendo DS has sold 8.8 million units in the U.K. since its March 2005 launch. The handheld is closing in on the 10 million unit mark set by PS2, which launched in November 2000 in the region. The Nintendo Wii, launched in December 2006, has already made substantial headway when measured against the PS2, selling 4.9 million units to date. Xbox 360, released in December 2005, has sold 3.2 million units, PSP has also sold 3.2 million units since its September 2005 launch and PS3, released in March 2007, has sold 1.9 million. Together, the consoles and handhelds have sold 32 million units in the U.K. Including France, Spain, Sweden, Denmark, Norway, Czech Republic and Australia, GAME said total lifetime hardware sales stand at 42.7 million units. Taking those markets into consideration, PS3 has sold 300,000 more units than Xbox 360 (2.6 million vs. 2.3 million, respectively), showing the PlayStation's brand is still strong in PAL territories overall. GAME released the figures as part of its fiscal year earnings announcement. The retailer said it achieved record sales of £1.97 billion ($2.88bn) and operating profits of £126.5 million ($185m). [UPDATE: These figures were computed up to the end of 2008, and the majority of them -- except for the PS2 -- have been independently reported previously.]