2010 UK Hardware Sales Drop By A Third

UK videogame hardware sales have dropped by over 32% to £256 million in 2010, down from £378 million in the first six months of 2009. Combined sales for software were also down by almost 10%, from £592 million to £533 million, according to data from Chart-Track, ELSPA and ISFE.

Overall, in the first 26 weeks of 2010 sales from the videogames sector stood at £963 million, down nearly 16% from the £1.143 billion in the same period last year. However, these figures do not include any sales generated from the downloadable or second-hand markets. Michael Rawlinson, director general of ELSPA commented:

"UK consumers are still facing economic uncertainty and everyone is looking to how they can make savings, which has naturally impacted on the entertainment industry as a whole."

"UK consumers are getting their gaming entertainment now in a variety ways. Consumers are increasingly downloading videogames from websites, and are also increasingly playing games not only on consoles, but also on their mobiles or through social networking sites, such as Facebook."

"This is proof that interactive entertainment is expanding way beyond its traditional boundaries."

Despite the overall drops, ELSPA commented that the combined sales of the Xbox 360, Wii and PlayStation 3 were higher than at the same point last year.