July shocker for UK retail

UK boxed game sales have just suffered their worst month this year.

July’s GfK Chart-Track data shows the full extent of the market decline. Games retailers generated 44.76m last month, a drop of 26.4 per cent compared to the same period the year before.

In terms of unit sales, 2,327,966 games were sold at retail last month, a drop of 20 per cent year-on-year.

The results come at the peak of a summer slump, with shops banking on a strong Christmas to help turn things around.

There was a distinct lack of new releases for July, with the top five best-selling games all being released in previous months.

No.1 once again was 505 Games’ Zumba Fitness followed by LEGO Pirates of the Caribbean at No.2 and Dirt 3 at No.3.

Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows: Part 2 is the highest charting new game at No.8.

The most successful publisher of the month was EA (in units and value), and its success was driven by the aforementioned Harry Potter as well as back catalogue success with FIFA.

THE JULY TOPTEN

1. Zumba Fitness (505 Games)
2. LEGO Pirates of the Caribbean (Disney Interactive)
3. Dirt 3 (Codemasters)
4. Call of Duty: Black Ops (Activision)
5. Transformers: Dark of the Moon (Activision)
6. L.A. Noire (Rockstar)
7. FIFA 11 (Electronic Arts)
8. Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows: Part 2 (Electronic Arts)
9. Call of Juarez: The Cartel (Ubisoft)
10. LEGO Star Wars III: The Clone Wars (LucasArts)