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The Almighty Buck Entertainment Games

UK Shows Record Game Sales, Xmas Hardware Decline 23

Posted by simoniker from the up-side-and-down-side dept.
Thanks to Reuters for their story indicating that the UK videogame software market swelled to a new high of 1.26 billion UKP (2.29 billion USD) in 2003. The piece points out the increasing success of publisher Electronic Arts, "which notched up five of the top 10 selling titles, and the top four overall", and the original ELSPA press release notes that soccer title "FIFA 2004 was the overall [sales] winner." However, Gamesindustry.biz weighs in by revealing that "total [console hardware] units sold over the crucial Christmas period were down by over 10 per cent year on year", and pointing out that "the overall picture clearly indicates that hardware sales have peaked a year earlier than some analysts predicted - meaning the next two Christmases will be even more challenging for retailers, with discounted software likely to be rife as they battle for market share." The dominance of the PlayStation 2 at UK retail is supreme, though, as: "Over the crucial last four weeks, the PS2 outsold the Xbox by 2.69 to one, and the sixty-pounds-cheaper Cube by 4.81 to one."
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UK Shows Record Game Sales, Xmas Hardware Decline More

UK Shows Record Game Sales, Xmas Hardware Decline

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  • 60 pounds? (Score:5, Funny)

    by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday January 07, 2004 @02:56AM (#7901055)
    A Game Cube is 60 pounds less than a PS2?

    And here I thought the Xbox was massive.
  • I am really suprised by how much the ps2 has outsold the cube over them 4 weeks, I really thought the cube would be the best selling since its got some really good packages really cheap, then again nintendo would help there cause if they just released a pokemon game for the cube already, I know many people who would have bought one ages ago if they had.

    BTW I do know that there is now a pokemon game in japan for the cube, but its a mystery why they did'nt want to release it here for christmas time since

    • Re:suprising the ps2 outsold the cube by so much. (Score:5, Informative)

      by unclethursday ( 664807 ) on Wednesday January 07, 2004 @03:27AM (#7901167)
      Still, even though the GC sold the least of the three consoles, it was the only one in the UK to actually see an increase in sales over the previous year.

      Xbox sales were -5% over last year, according to the article, and PS2 sales were nearly -33.3% over the same period last year, according ot the article. The GC sales were up almost 33.3% over last year.

      • for someone to come in an mindlessly defend the GC.

        C'mon, it is only a month and it is only the UK...only fools are going to bother saying, "Haha, the GC sucks," when reading something like this. Get over it, you don't need to defend it every second of every day.
    • It has diddly to do with releasing a Pokemon game and everything to do with the fact that Nintendo can't seem to release more than 4-5 big first-party titles a year (not to mention that the UK/European market sucks hind teat when it comes to GC game releases). Microsoft and Sony can get away with having relatively few first-party hits since their third-party support is solid - dual-platform games are generally more likely to be PS2/Xbox than they are to be PS2/GC or [obviously] Xbox/GC, and the list of thi

      • Re:suprising the ps2 outsold the cube by so much. (Score:2, Informative)

        by Anonymous Coward
        All that your post suggests is that you are able to ignore the actions of Japanese developers to a larger degree than the rest of us are. You may be happy playing only Western games, but lots of gamers around the world appreciate Japanese games far more.

        After all, only someone who ignores Japanese-originated games could possibly state that "most" dual-platform games are PS2/Xbox only, or that the GameCube somehow has less exclusive support than the Xbox. Likewise, only such a person could possibly imply
    • Actually, the most recent Pokemon game does need a bit more in translation than the previous 2 N64 ones. This being because unlike the Pokemon Stadium games, where it was just a place for you to fight with your Pokemon in 3D, this one also contains its own entirely original RPG in 3D, with dialogue and everything, and that requires a lot of translation.
    • I think the main reason the PS2 sells so well is pirate games. Certainly where i live its trivial to get hold of copies of ps2 games, and just as easy to get them chipped. It certainly isnt the mature market, we have all 3 consoles in my house (20 yrold students) and the only one that never gets played is the ps2. With the lions share of the gaming being on the cube, excluding marathon halo sessions of course.

  • Well we all know why the PS2 outsold (Score:3, Informative)

    by xQuarkDS9x ( 646166 ) on Wednesday January 07, 2004 @03:50AM (#7901245)
    It's simple folks. It means those UK people must be even MORE unlucky then Americans with PS2's that break down every 6-12 months and need to be replaced.

  • Hardware sales were weaker, no doubt (Score:5, Informative)

    by GreatDrok ( 684119 ) on Wednesday January 07, 2004 @06:15AM (#7901666) Journal
    Odd that the GCN was so low, it is a bit of a self fullfilling prophecy though. When people came into the shop I work at without any idea what they wanted there was no problem guiding them to the system best suited to their needs - young kids would always be better off with the GCN; where the family all wanted to use it then the PS2 would be better and if a mature person wanted a machine then the Xbox would be ideal. However, the name recognition of Playstation also plays a big part in it, we would frequently get people in who had no idea what they wanted but it had to be a playstation. Its getting like people buying a hoover instead of a vacuum cleaner. I'm sure Sony loves that,
    • In what way is the PS2 the best console for a family? Even a relatively old one, (14-15 yr old kids) would surely be better off with a Game Cube? Have you ever played a good multiplayer game on the ps2? I know i havent, hell i cant even think of any, about the only reason i can think of to buy one is for FF, and when FF:CC comes out in what, a month, even that reason will be gone.

      Just out of interest, why does everyone insist on saying GCN? why do all consoles have to have 3 letter abbreviations? whats wro

  • Well, duh! (Score:2, Informative)

    by jarran ( 91204 )
    Considering that sales in the UK over Christmas were poor all round [bbc.co.uk] it's hardly surprising. Why should we expect consoles to buck the trend?
  • This console cycle is going to be larger than usual (new consoles are going to start arriving almost two years from now), and I believe that Sony has had a great run on the stretch (with inferior console - that proves that software lineup is the most important asset).

    I think that since Sega is not a player anymore it helps to extend the life of consoles too (no players making rush moves into the market, e.g 32x, Saturn). It's also good to remember that there's a spike once a console reaches the $99 pri

    • Gee... although it's undeniable that the Xbox has been somewhat a success (considering it's a 1st attempt), but I really wonder about the next round of consoles. If things don't progress (market share, profit margins) beyond XB1, I don't know how long will MS keep their videogame incursion up. (Not that they don't have TONS of money, but how long can you drag a venture without making business sense).

      Microsoft loses money in every division (especially Home Entertainment, where the Xbox is) except OS and

  • It's funny to look at the surging health of the UK game market in light of all the failed European game studios [polygonmag.com] mentioned on Slashdot earlier this week. Clearly someone's not rooting for the home team.
  • I feel like going for a troll, so here it is. The general accepted currency abbreviation for the UK is GBP (Great British Pounds) not UKP, which I have never seen before.
    • The general accepted currency abbreviation for the UK is GBP (Great British Pounds) not UKP, which I have never seen before.

      Well, whoever it is generally accepted by is clearly a moron, it's as if someone were to start talking about the `Honshu Yen'.

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