November game sales struggle as retailers bank on late Christmas

UK retailers made 211.3m from video game sales last month.

That’s a big number, a jump of 154 per cent over October. But unfortunately the market is still tracking behind 2011.In terms of revenue, UK physical game sales were down 22.2 per cent year-on-year last month.

In terms of units, 6.36m games were sold, a drop of 23 per cent over the 8.26m sold during November 2011.

It means the much hoped for market turnaround has yet to materialise. The British Retail Consortium said last week that the High Street is anticipating a last minute Christmas rush, which tallies with recent comments from MCV’s Retail Advisory Board, with one retail exec predicting that Christmas is happening later this year.”

The biggest selling game of the month was, unsurprisingly, Call of Duty: Black Ops II, with Assassin’s Creed III in second and Halo 4 in third.

UK RETAIL NOVEMBER TOP TEN

1. Call of Duty: Black Ops II (Activision)
2. Assassin’s Creed III (Ubisoft)
3. Halo 4 (Microsoft)
4. FIFA 13 (EA)
5. Need for Speed: Most Wanted (EA)
6. Hitman Absolution (Square Enix)
7. Skylanders Giants (Activision)
8. WWE ’13 (THQ)
9. Football Manager 2013 (Sega)
10. Just Dance 4 (Ubisoft)