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2006 UK game sales break records

By Emma Boyes, GameSpot UKPosted Jan 11, 2007 11:14 am PT

The British games industry celebrates, as last year was the best ever for game software.

The Entertainment and Leisure Software Publishers Association, a British game-industry trade body, has revealed that 2006 was a booming year for the UK game industry, with all-format sales of game software totaling an impressive £1.36 billion (approximately $2.6 billion).

The best-selling software format was the PlayStation 2, which has also managed to ship a total of more than 40 million consoles across Europe. In second place were games for the Nintendo DS, which "slightly outdid" Sony's PlayStation Portable at number three, followed by the Xbox 360, the Xbox, the Wii, and the GameCube.

PC titles performed well, too, and also boasted their best-ever year, with sales increasing 7 percent from 2005.

ELSPA's director general, Paul Jackson, said that he believed that the industry would continue to gain momentum. "With the new-generation consoles and new handhelds there are some amazing titles out there and consumers are continuing to enjoy them," he said. "There are new and exciting games available and more and more family-orientated and mentally stimulating titles to grasp and hold the interest of all ages."

The top-selling game for 2006 was Electronic Arts' FIFA 07, followed by another football title, Konami's Pro Evolution Soccer 6, and racer Need for Speed Carbon at number three.

The other titles in the top 10 were Grand Theft Auto: Liberty City Stories at four, Lego Star Wars II: The Original Trilogy at five, The Sims 2: Pets at six, Cars at seven, Tomb Raider: Legend at eight, The Sims 2 at nine, and WWE SmackDown! vs. RAW 2007 at number 10.

82 Comments

  • tommyvercetti1

    Posted Aug 8, 2007 10:13 am PT

    "Where's the PS3? Oh right, it's across the ocean in America."
    No way, it should be IN the ocean. It is about as good as Atari Pac-Man. Aggh! Flashback!

  • commando611

    Posted Jun 4, 2007 1:25 am PT

    really...for me..football is just too boreing to play.

  • Hondje89

    Posted May 26, 2007 7:18 am PT

    Football/Soccer is just very popular in the UK... It has nothing to do with ''being smart'', moron.

  • King_Louis51

    Posted May 25, 2007 4:05 am PT

    I am from the UK, and it pisses me off that gems like Gears of War and Oblivion didn't turn up in this list. In fact, how the hell did FIFA 07 beat PES 6 anyway? When will the english learn? I feel like i'm the only clever gamer in the country

  • Rivent

    Posted Mar 31, 2007 9:10 am PT

    Sucks to be English, there are only a few people that know what they are doing when it comes to games, like me ^ ^ There are alot of:
    Typical Chavs - Football, GTA and need for speed
    Stupid kids - Cars, GTA and big gays in tight pants
    Typical girls - Sims, Sims, Sims, Sims, Sims and Sims

    Thankfully Tomb Raider and Lego Star Wars aren't that bad, but still only up there because adverts tell parents to buy them.

  • Humorguy_basic

    Posted Jan 21, 2007 5:25 pm PT

    Just want to see the pc figures. Problem with general figures is one machine can be way up another can be down, and so the overall figures say a little bit up, where it talks like everything is a little up, but where really something is down, like PC. So can we get specific figures Gamespot?

  • matrixman2k

    Posted Jan 16, 2007 10:20 pm PT

    Hmmmm

    Hey morororo...That was a nice statement. Very emotional...indeed.
    Sounded like someone who is probably bullied right into their door by the local youths and their typical antisocial technics...Seriously you should lighten up.

    Still the smarter ones amongst us are never taken into account...

    I'll leave the rest to imagination...hmmm...

  • morororo

    Posted Jan 15, 2007 2:46 am PT

    Britain has far too many sheep in this country. It's really sad. If anything good comes out you know it's gonna bomb, anyone with any talent will never get noticed, our tv shows are getting as trashy as American telly. Our society is so fecking dumb now I really fear for the country in the next 20, even 10 years.

    People here are content with liking utter crap, it makes me die a little inside. It's not just video games. It's everything. Kids are just cookie cutter clones of one another and follow blindly with whatever the next kid is into, despite it being utterly rubbish. Parents are just the same with their keeping up with the Joneses crap. Take my street, everyone has a brand new silver car. There are other colours you cretins! This is a country where Jade Goody can become a millionaire cause most people can relate to how farking retarded she is and buy her book and other trash.

    Phew, sorry about that. I just woke up and that list of games annoyed me!

  • WNxCozzy

    Posted Jan 14, 2007 1:26 pm PT

    What does it matter what "most" people like? Infact why do the charts even bother some of you? just play your own games.

  • break_assasin

    Posted Jan 14, 2007 1:03 pm PT

    wat the hell, i am quite ashamed

  • 360gamerz

    Posted Jan 14, 2007 5:20 am PT

    CHAVS SUCK

  • nev70

    Posted Jan 13, 2007 12:18 pm PT

    Remember this fellow uk gamers POPULAR / BEST SELLING DOES NOT EQUATE TO GOOD AS WE CAN SEE ............just like the film Love Actually loads of people went to see it but we all know its a pile of S**T. For this year I cant wait for biowares rpg Mass Effect!!!!!!!!!! also Dirt as well !

  • MorbidAnimation

    Posted Jan 13, 2007 11:05 am PT

    Also, don't forget that GOW hasn't being out that long, while some games on the top 10 have been out for a while. I also think that some games on the list are quite good.

    Lego SW and Cars are there because kids like that sort of stuff, so parents buy those games. It's a proven formula, and there's nothing wrong with that.

    As for the others, I don't see anything fishy there, although some games I've played are disappointing.

  • Caviglia

    Posted Jan 13, 2007 11:01 am PT

    I weep when it comes to the tastes of my fellow UK gamers.

    Every year..GTA, Fifa, The Sims, Need for Speed...boring buggers.

  • goose_uk

    Posted Jan 13, 2007 10:05 am PT

    gears will not be up there because it is an exclusive.... FIFA etc has such high sales because it is on every single platform, not to mention heavily marketed

  • Chef_Bretz

    Posted Jan 13, 2007 8:36 am PT

    Must be the overwhelming number of parents buying games for their children, as I wouldn’t say any of those games are particularly great! Shame.

  • Sanguis_Malus

    Posted Jan 13, 2007 7:00 am PT

    To the THE-ZOZ, why would you fell compelled to write such foolish comments. Consoles are not doomed, in fact the market is huge. Not everybody wants to sit in a room on their own playing away all the time on a PC. I have nothing against PC games but I prefer console gaming, thats my choice. You can stick to you're geek sessions. I will be enjoying a few beers with the lads, sat on spacious, comfy sofas, with my home cinema sound thats awesome and my HDTV that gives a fantastic picture.

    Don't knock other peoples gaming choices because you are insecure or can't afford the same !

  • rayoliteuk

    Posted Jan 13, 2007 4:20 am PT

    It would be interesting to know the best selling on each platform. The best PC/X360 games like Oblivion don't stand a chance against the volumes of PS2 games.

  • THE-ZOZ

    Posted Jan 12, 2007 7:46 pm PT

    WHAT.... PS2 THE BEST SELLING FORMAT IN 2006(PANTS)
    PC GAMING WILL RULE 2007 AND BEYOND . PC ARE MUCH POWERFUL
    THAN ALL CONSOLES PUT TOGHTER AND IT GOT BETTER GRAPHICS
    ESPECIALLY WITH THE NEW NVIDIA 8800GTX (in other word it will eat ps3 for breakfast ), NOT TO MENTION THE AWESOME GAMES THAT COMING TO the PC (exclusively) SO xbox 360 & ps3 ARE DOOMED ALREADY.

  • DanC1989

    Posted Jan 12, 2007 4:25 pm PT

    I'm ashamed to be called British.

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