UKIE: Digital Chart coming February

Industry body UKIE has announced a digital chart for PC games will be published next month, two years after it began the project.

It’s the first measure of downloadable video game sales and UKIE says it will be continually improved in the months ahead.

The basic PC chart – which will first arrive in beta form next month – will be made public. But companies which share their data will be able to view more detailed figures on the PC download market.Chart participation is open to UKIE members and video games companies.

Firms which have shared data for a closed beta over the past few months include publishers and digital distributors such asDisney Interactive Studios, Focus Multimedia, Get Games, Green Man Gaming, Mastertronic, NCsoft, Sega, Square Enix, Ubisoft, Warner Bros and more.

UKIE will continue to provide boxed game sales in conjunction with GfK Chart-Track.As previously reported by MCV, the trade organisation will be working on Xbox Live and PSN charts next.

UKIE CEO Jo Twist said: UKIE is committed to measuring the size of the digital games market and is delighted to announce that it will be launching a public beta of the UKIE PC Download Chart in February.

Having this digital data alongside our UKIE Games Charts for boxed products, will allow the games industry to lobby government even more effectively, and allow our members to make informed and fact based commercial decisions.”

UKIE Board member and head of UKIE’s Digital Group, Geoff Heath, added: The launch of UKIE’s PC Download Chart is great news for the industry. We all hear that digital sales are growing but we don’t know by how much or in which area.

UKIE’s PC Download Chart is a first step to getting a full understanding of where the industry is developing but this is just the beginning and we still need more input from industry. We need your data.”

Those interested in being a part of UKIE’s Digital Charts can contact sam.collins@ukie.org.uk.

Earlier this month MCV called for a digital chart. You can read a deeper digital charts analysis here.

Yesterday UKIE announced it has sold its stake in charts body GfK Chart-Track, but still has a deal in place for exclusive access to GfK’s boxed sales data.

The UK publishing community called for an official download sales chart as far back as July 2009.