UK SOFTWARE SALES MONITOR Your weekly guide to the UK games software market
WEEKLY MARKET VALUE:
£18.96m No. 1
Week ending October 13th 40 £28.6m 20 0
It is a disappointing week for games retailers because – despite a flood of new product – sales fell 26 per cent to 658,841 games sold, while stores generated £19m, a drop of 34 per cent week-on-week.
The big games of the week failed to lift the market, titles such as Dishonored(No.2), XCOM (No.7) and the two Pokémon titles Black and White 2, which all debuted in the Top Ten. Fable: The Journey, WRC 3and Harry Potter Kinectare also new releases.
889,960 units
£18.96m 658,841 units
Week Ending September 29th
Week Ending October 6th
The biggest seller was FIFA 13once again. EA’s football sim holds the top spot despite sales falling 63 per cent week-on-week, and was comfortably ahead of the competition.
Week Ending October 13th
It might not get much better this week. Skylanders Giantslooks likely to be the biggest game, but as it is a children’s title it is more likely to be a sustained seller rather than a day one purchase. 007 Legendsand Dance Central 3are also due this week.
“Alone at Hermitage Lane he reached the end of his Super Mario game,
defeating the big bad Bowser himself and rescuing the insufferably pink Princess Toadstool. He was glad Marianne was not there to witness his triumph.” Memoirs reveal Salman Rushdie’s love for Super Mario World.
CAN FIFA 13 KICK OFF MARKET REVIVAL?
Generation Media analyses another period of decline in TV advertising despite a good September
FOLLOWING a month of positive growth in August, September saw a return to a decline in ad pressure with a 10 per cent year- on-year fall.
20% 10% 0% -10 -20 -30 -40 -50
-60% -70% -80%
Jan Feb Mar Apr May Jun Jul Aug Sep YTD 7% -1% -10% -21% -23% -38% -47% -58% -56% -76% Year-on-year percentage change in Individual TVRs 2012 Individual TVRs Source: MCV/BARB August 2012
This decline was relatively small compared to previous months (especially May), meaning that the overall state of advertising pressure in the games and consoles market has marginally improved from -41 per cent to -38 per cent. One TVR is one per cent of a target audience. September marked a sea-change in the way games and consoles were advertised year-on-year. In 2011 there were 35 campaigns on air, averaging 48 TVRs per campaign. In 2012 there just 21 campaigns on air. However, each campaign was backed with much greater ad pressure, averaging 72 TVRs (an increase of 50 per cent). Not surprisingly FIFA 13was the top advertised campaign during September with 179 TVRs, and was rewarded with the number one sales position. It was pushed close in the advertising stakes however, with Mists of Pandaria(178 TVRs), PlayStation Vita (174 TVRs), Borderlands 2(158 TVRs) and Resident Evil 6 (140 TVRs) running it close. The Top Five campaigns accounted for 55 per cent of the total market ad pressure in September.
80 60 £63.4m
1,737,413 units
Total UK Software Sales Source: UKIE/Chart–Track and Intent Media