Topic: 2003 UK Game Sales Highest Ever

[NWR_Karlie]

The games industry in the UK is continuing to grow, with the highest sales ever recorded last year of 1.26 billion pounds spent on software.

VIDEO GAMES CONTINUE TO GROW

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.