Britons Buying More Games Than Ever
And Nintendo is the one cashing in.
New data for the first half of 2007 shows that people in the UK are spending more and more money on games.
In the first 26 weeks of the year, Britons together bought games worth more than £26 million, according to research group Chart Track. That is nearly 20 per cent higher than over the same period in 2006.
So what's driving the growth? You may already know the answer.
Just as overseas, the Wii is a big winner in the UK, despite the shortages that plagued the system during winter.
The DS is doing better than ever versus the PSP, too. In fact, the DS had the biggest jump in software sales, selling nearly three times as many games in the first six months of this year compared to last year.
Taking together the success of Wii, DS and Game Boy Advance, Nintendo now controls more than half of the entire UK games market, up from around a third last year.
But the UK's share of the creative pie may be taking a hit. While reporting the first half of the year's successes, ELSPA, the Entertainment And Leisure Software Publishers Association, said that British developers could find themselves missing out on the action.
ELSPA said that tax breaks, among other incentives, in other countries were leading to British game makers enjoying less of the success of sales in their home country.
Alex Wollenschlaeger
Editor, Kikizo
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