Sales monitor GfK-ChartTrack has revealed to MCV that it hopes to set up a chart of UK digital downloads by the end of this year.

The company said it was in ‘active discussions’ with a number of leading providers of downloadable digital content with a view to inking a deal over the next few months.

MCV understands that the body is currently in negotiations with Steam, IGN/Direct2Drive, GDi, Microsoft, Nintendo and Sony with a view to gathering data on UK downloads.

GfK-ChartTrack director Dorian Bloch told MCV: “We’re talking to all digital download retailers with a view to getting their data. A lot of publishers see it as ever more important to have those digital sales tracked, alongside retail boxed model.

“It’s down to negotiations now. Some companies in the space want it more than others – some are worried about releasing data that clarifies their whole position in the market.

“I would hope that it will happen before the year end.”
GfK-ChartTrack is having more luck negotiating with potential partners in the UK than the US – where many of the major download retailers are based.

“We have the goodwill of our local publishing publishing community, but across the Atlantic there’s a whole set of other people we have to get on board,” he said.

“But we met a lot of people at GDC last month – and we expect to meet a lot more at the Develop Conference and even at E3.”

GfK-ChartTrack this month began releasing its weekly
All Formats chart on a Monday morning. The firm previously made the data publicly available on a Tuesday afternoon.

“We already had the fastest video games chart in the world – but we wanted to make it available for publishers’ Monday morning meetings,” added Bloch.