UK boxed games market hits lowest point since 1996

Sales of UK games plunged to their lowest point in 19 years for the week ending August 22nd.

According to GfK Chart-Track, just 4.46m was generated by boxed software revenue for that period, the lowest amount since the data firm’s inception in 1996.

This figure only factors in boxed sales, not digital downloads, further highlighting the need for more digital data.

But it isn’t all gloom for the High Street, says Chart-Track director Dorian Bloch.

We’ve made it through summer and the year-to-date is actually not as bad as you may think, down two per cent in revenue and eight per cent in units,” he told MCV.

Bloch added that he expects the market to pick up significantly now that the big games are coming. Indeed, the market rose 94 per cent in value on the arrival of Gears of War: Ultimate Edition, Until Dawn and Disney Infinity 3.0.

Remember that Black Friday is November 27th and I believe this will be as significant an event as last year, given that consumers will now be expecting a huge amount of deals to be available.

Black Friday 2014 combined revenue of software, console hardware and gaming accessories was the sixthbiggest games retail day ever – 60m – in the UK and one of only nine days ever to record over 50m in revenue.”