Germany overtakes UK as largest Euro games market

UPDATE 2: Gfk Chart-Track in the UK has contacted GamesIndustry.biz to admit that the press release it issued earlier today had been written using incorrect data.

The company is expected to release a correction shortly. It is understood that Germany is not a bigger games market than the UK.

This is the second time in as many weeks that GfK Chart-Track data has been publicly questioned. Last week, Nintendo contacted GamesIndustry.biz following confusion over UK sales figures for the first half of the year.

Our original story follows:

Germany has overtaken the UK as the largest market for videogame sales in Europe, and is now the number one sales region on a country-by-country basis.

According to information from Media Control GfK International, Germany has taken the top spot due to a 20 per cent decline in year-on-year software sales in the UK during the first half of 2009.

Portugal recorded the biggest growth in game sales on a country-by-country basis, with the volume of games sold up 16 per cent, and turnover up 11 per cent, in the first half of the year.

Sweden saw a growth in sales of four per cent, and consumers in the Netherlands bought 2.4 per cent more games than during the same period in 2008.

Italian and Belgian markets remain virtually unchanged, said the data specialists, while declines were also recorded for France and Spain.

The biggest release in Europe is Nintendo's Wii Fit, with the health game the best-selling game in the UK, German and Austria since the beginning of the year, while it also recorded big numbers in Italy, Sweden and Finland.

UPDATE 1: GamesIndustry.biz has confirmed with GfK Media Control that Germany's lead position in Europe is down to the drop in sales in the UK, with "the decline mostly due to a lack of new-released blockbuster games in the UK in 2009," according to a spokesperson.