Rockstar triggers market Redemption

Following five months of decline, the UK games market has finally posted a year-on-year increase.

The launch of Red Dead Redemption helped the UK games market post a sales rise of 12 per cent last month when compared to the same period in 2009. But unit sales were down slightly by 1.5 per cent.

The phenomenal success of Red Dead has seen Rockstar’s parent company – Take-Two – leap up the publisher rankings to No.1, displacing last month’s champion Ubisoft. In terms of value, Take-Two took 25 per cent of the market last month.

Another key winner was Microsoft. Almost 40 per cent of money spent on software last month was spent on games for the Xbox 360, with PS3 just slightly behind with 30 per cent of the money spent.

May’s sales increase is long overdue good news for the UK games industry, which has seen monthly year-on-year declines throughout 2010.

For a full analysis of the ELSPA Gfk Chart-Track May charts, head over to the full feature.