Last week saw another dip for the UK games market, its value dropping a further 18 per cent to £8.6m – dangerously close to the £8.5m recorded in May, which was an all-time low for the industry.
Similarly, unit sales fell by 17 per cent, down to 390,840. It is the first time UK sales have fallen below 400,000 per week since the May 18th release of Max Payne 3pushed the figure over the 500,000 mark.
Week Ending June 2nd
Week Ending June 9th
Despite a couple of new releases last week, FIFA 12 returned to No.1 in the All Formats Chart. The highest new entry was Lollipop Chainsawat No.4, followed by Gravity Rushat No.11.
Week Ending June 16th
Next week looks much more promising thanks to the launch of LEGO Batman 2: DC Super Heroesacross all formats. Expect this to be a steady seller over the summer, particularly when The Dark Knight Rises arrives in cinemas.
ADVERTISING pressure data has now been consolidated for the entire January to May period of 2012, and the results are dramatic.
May finished 70 per cent down when compared to the same month last year – this is the largest decline of any month year-to-date.
This was driven by a 61 per cent decrease in the number of campaigns on air (18 in 2012 vs. 46 in 2011). Not only were there fewer campaigns on air, but each campaign was supported by fewer TVRs on average (43 in 2012 vs 55 in 2011). One TVR is equal to one per cent of a product’s target audience. This has led to an overall year-to-date decline in the impact of games and console advertising on TV of 48 per cent. However, there has only been a 22 per cent decline in the number of campaigns (76 in 2012 vs 97 in 2011). Earlier this month, E3 demonstrated that there could still be a big Q3 and Q4 this year, with the arrival of a number triple-A titles and the Wii U on the way. Time will tell if these are enough to help the market recover from its current slump.