UK Wii sales down 45.1% year-on-year

An analysis of the UK video games market by Nick Parker claims that UK hardware unit sales of Nintendo’s Wii are down 45.1 per cent for the year-to-date ending March 31st 2010.

In fact, every piece of games hardware on the market is down, with PSP (-44.7 percent), DS (-35.9 per cent) and Xbox 360 (-22.2 per cent) suffering the hardest.

The market for boxed games software has been in decline for fifteen months now in Europe so we have to examine the whole market trend, not just what is happening in 2010 so far,” Parker told MCV.

All hardware formats were in decline last year on a unit basis except the single figures growth from the PS3. Q1 this year is no different in the UK except every console and handheld device has sold less this year in volume terms than the same period last year and the trend has worsened since the end of last year.

We may have to accept that a significant market (over 20 per cent) for traditional boxed core games came from these casual gamers who may have invested in a 40 box five years ago but only played it for a few hours. That was their expectation from gaming – an experience they can now find on portable multimedia devices for less.”

To read Parker’s report in full, click here.