UK games market reaches lowest ebb

Olympics fever was good news for publishers of Olympic-based games, but it wasn’t enough to save the UK games market from its worst performance ever last week.

UKIE/Chart-Track data reveals that the total value of the physical UK games market for the week ending July 28th 2012 was 8.40m – the lowest since records began.

And while early data suggests that the following week has been an improvement, August looks to be another challenging month for the market until new releases such as New Super Mario Bros 2 (August 17th), Sleeping Dogs (August 17th)and Darksiders II (August 21st).

The news is less bleak for Sega, however, whose Olympic duo have been the grateful recipients of the buzz surrounding the London 2012 games.

Its official London 2012 title claimed the chart top spot for the first time in five weeks, with sales climbing 25 per cent. Also on the up was Mario & Sonic at the Olympic Games, sales of which jumped 21 per cent.