Games more popular than films and music combined

 

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Posted on 5 Nov 2008 at 12:28

Video games have overtaken sales of music and video combined in the UK this year. The release of consoles and games targeted to the casual gamer have elevated gaming to new heights, as it becomes one of the nation's favourite pastimes.

Sales of video games across the PC and all consoles will amount to £4.6 billion this year marking a 42 per cent rise, according to retail analyst firm Verdict Research. Music and DVD sales, however, saw just a six per cent rise, tallying up sales of £4.5 billion together.

Chris Poole, senior market analyst at games, music and video software monitor Chart Track, said that the past year has seen the world of gaming opened up to people who hadn't been interested in the past.

"We've got some rather exciting new consoles out now," he told Computer Shopper. "Xbox 360, Nintendo DS and Wii - and a lot of new titles from several publishers are performing very well. Then there are things like (Nintendo) Wii-fit and (Dr Kawashima's Brain Training) and things like that.

"You've got all sorts of new gamers - the casual gamers - using things like the Nintendo DS and Wii. That, previously, was not as tapped into."

Poole admitted that console games have proven to be far more popular than PC games, which accounted for just 10 per cent of the number of games sold in the UK last month. He also revealed that PC sales are actually worse off than they were last year, despite the overall growth of games.

"It's not doing as well as last year. There's quite a big difference," said Poole, claiming that games such as World of Warcraft and Burning Crusade played a big role in PC games' success last year. But he remains confident that by the end of the year, PC games will be popular again, as upcoming releases are expected to make an impact.

"We have yet to have the new World of Warcraft Lich King, which comes out on November 14th - so that could change things dramatically."

Author: Dawinderpal Sahota