UK games market rises by 42 per cent in first half

The UK games market has seen a massive growth in year-on-year revenues of 42 per cent for the first half of 2007, powered by strong sales of DS, Wii, PS3 and Xbox 360 software.

For the first 26 weeks of 2007, the UK market generated GBP 1.02 billion (EUR 1.5bn) in revenue including hardware, software and accessory sales - compared to 718 million for the same period last year.

Software was responsible for GBP 519 million (EUR 767m) in revenue, with sales of DS titles climbing a staggering 164 per cent to GBP 91 million (EUR 134.4m), compared to 34 million in 2006.

Software for the Xbox 360 was the greatest performer for the first half of the year, generating GBP 101 million (EUR 134m), a rise of 73 per cent, compared to GBP 58 million (EUR 85.7m) last year.

The Nintendo Wii sold GBP 46 million (EUR 68m) worth of software while the PlayStation 3 — which only launched in late March — has already clocked up sales of GBP 37 million (EUR 54m).

Console hardware generated revenues of GBP 405 million (EUR 598.8m), with 45 per cent attributable to Sony, Nintendo securing 39 per cent and Microsoft 17 per cent.

Breaking the hardware figure down further, GBP 101 million (EUR 149.3m) of revenue came from handheld consoles, with Nintendo taking 64 per cent of the market and Sony taking the remaining 36 per cent.

Home consoles accounted for GBP 304 million (EUR 449.5m) of revenue, with Sony generating 47 per cent of the figure, Nintendo 30 per cent and Microsoft 22 per cent. Overall, sales of home consoles shot up by 189 per cent.

Even console accessories saw an impressive climb in sales of 74 per cent to GBP 98 million (EUR 144.9m), compared to GBP 57 million (EUR 84.2m) in 2006.

All figures are copyright Chart Track / ELSPA.