Wii dominates UK hardware sales

Yesterday, Microsoft announced that the recent Xbox 360 price cut had seen European sales treble over the past two weeks--without quoting any figures. The company has also launched a marketing blitz using games, such as Rock Band 2, to try to ram home the console's new-found price advantage.

Figures from sales-tracking body Chart-Track released today suggest that this boost may well be needed if the Xbox 360 wishes to regain ground lost to the Wii--and that the post-price-cut sales were in fact responsible for stopping Sony’s PS3 closing the sales gap at the last minute.

Over the past year, according to Chart-Track, UK consumers have snapped up a million PS3s and the same number of Xbox 360s, increasing their install bases to 1.4 million and 2.3 million, respectively. The same figures, published today by UK industry body ELSPA, show that Nintendo has shifted some 2.5 million Wiis in the same time period despite supply problems plaguing both the system itself and Wii Fit during 2008. The figures imply that 3.6 million households now have one of the Mario factory's money-making machines--that's approximately 15 percent of homes in the UK.

Nintendo also owns the UK handheld gaming market too, with 7.1 million DS and DS Lite handhelds now in the hands of eager British gamers--3.3 million sold in the past year alone. The PSP has not fared so well, however, with 700,000 sales over the past year.

Michael Rawlinson, ELSPA's chief executive, heralded the figures, saying, "There can be little doubt that video games are now one of the major forms of entertainment in the UK. Not only that, our industry is proving to be remarkably robust in the 'credit crunch.' The reason is very simple--games can offer terrific value for money."