Fri, Jan 04, 2013 | 11:20 GMT

UK console sales down a third in 2012

Britain isn’t buying as many consoles as it used to, according to findings collated by UKIE and GfK Chart-Track. It seems as if hardware sales are slowing as the next-generation looms on the horizon.

Compared to 2011, hardware sales fell by a total of 33.1% in 2012 – that’s a drop of 31.3% for handhelds and 34.1% for home consoles.

On the handheld front, newcomers PS Vita and 3DS XL failed to ignite sales, while Wii U did little to ramp up home console sales. That’s despite findings from earlier this week revealing that digital sales in 2012 generated some £552 million in the UK alone. The disparity between trends means that digital sales on PC and mobile could be coaxing gamers away from consoles.

Still, next-gen is on the way and with it a slew of potentially massive reveals this year. Check out my run-down of what games to expect in 2013 here.

Thanks MCV.

3 comments

#1

a7md1990
04/01/13, 11:08 am

“On the handheld front, newcomers PS Vita and Wii U failed…”

correction: Wii U is not a handheld device, it’s a home console, controller can’t even work outside the room in which the console is placed.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wii_U

#2

Dave Cook
04/01/13, 11:20 am

@1 Sigh. That was a typo. The sentence originally read “On the handheld front, newcomers PS Vita and 3DS XL failed to ignite sales, while Wii U did little to ramp up home console sales.”

It’s blatantly clear that the Wii U is not a handheld device.

Editing now…

#3

a7md1990
04/01/13, 12:25 pm

LOL!! Of course you know that. Was just messing around. Surprisingly I got your attention, I feel important :)

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