Holiday Game Sales Drop in UK, Forced Price Cuts
by William D'Angelo, posted on 16 December 2011 / 2,254 Views
Game sales have dropped in the UK, forcing price cuts. Since Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 3 launched, UK retailers have sold 8.78 million games, which is a drop of 1.4 million compared to the same period in 2010. Retailers have been forced to cut prices of new released by up to 50 percent.
“Consumers’ willingness to spend money is harder to come by. And we are having to work really hard to win the loyalty of those customers,” said Game CEO, Ian Shepherd.
Sales of The Elder Scrolls: Skyrim increased 145 percent after Gamestation cut the price to £22.49. The UK boss of a global games publisher said, “a lot of games are not performing as they should. And so retail wants to cut prices to shift stock. It’s the reality in the UK. But when you see big sellers like Skyrim discounted, you do end up scratching your head. It doesn’t make sense.”
According to VGChartz, the 3DS and Xbox 360 have been the best selling platforms in the UK, selling 77,600 and 73,321 respectively. Software sales did rise by 24 percent to 4.46 million games sold the week ending December 10, with the Xbox 360 selling 1.2 million games alone.
