UK games market drops 7.8% during Q1 2010

Research conducted by MCV using data from GfK Chart-Track has revealed that the games market in the UK is down by 7.8 percent for the 13 weeks of the year, ending on April 4.

Despite the drop, it was concluded that £303M was brought in, with 14 million games sold during the quarter.

Last year, during the same period, £329M was earned with the number of games sold equaling 15.38M in 2009 which is a 10.8 percent drop for 2010.

Despite popular titles and hardware like Mass Effect 2, BioShock 2, AvP, BFBC2, FFIII, and DSi XL being available, reasons for the drop were attributed to a lowered demand for Wii, bad weather, and an overall drop in consumer spending.

“It’s frustrating when you consider the quality of product that’s out there,” HMV’s Tim Ellis told MCV. “It shows the impact of the economic downturn. People are making fewer impulse purchases, whilst the market is also having to compete with other popular culture categories such as technology devices, licensed products and artist merchandising.

“Even things like gigs and festivals – if people are spending twice as much on this than they did five years ago then this represents disposal income that’s heading in a different direction.

However, some retailers expect things to rebound a bit when Move, Natal, and Nintendo's 3DS hit the market.

“There is already a lot of anticipation around Natal and Move and along with 3DS these products will help to broaden gaming to an even wider audience this Christmas,” commented DSGi category manager for games, Peter Willis.

Move and Natal are expected in shops sometime around the holidays, while no exact date for 3DS has been revealed.

Nintendo says it will be released before March 2011, though.