UK Sales Analysis – February

ALL FORMATS TOP 50: February

1. Wii Fit (Wii) – Nintendo
2. COD: World at War (360, PS3, Wii, PS2, PC, DS) – Activision Blizzard
3. FIFA 09 (360, PS3, PSP, Wii, PS2, DS, PC) – EA
4. Street Fighter IV (PS3, 360) – Capcom
5. Professor Layton and the Curious Village (DS) – Nintendo
6. Mario Kart Wii (Wii) – Nintendo
7. Wii Play (Wii) – Nintendo
8. Mystery Case Files: Millionheir (Wii) – Nintendo
9. Mario & Sonic at the Olympic Games (Wii) – Sega
10. My Fitness Coach (Wii) – Ubisoft
11. Guitar Hero: World Tour (Wii, 360, PS3, PS2) – Activision Blizzard
12. Skate 2 (PS3, 360) – EA
13. F.E.A.R. 2: Project Origin (PS3, 360, PC) – Warner Bros.
14. Grand Theft Auto IV (PS3, 360, PC) – Rockstar Games
15. Carnival: Funfair Games (Wii, DS) – 2K
16. Need For Speed: Undercover (360, PS3, PSP, PS2, Wii, DS, PC) EA
17. Dr Kawashima’s Brain Training (DS) – Nintendo
18. Tomb Raider: Underworld (360, PS3, Wii, PS2, DS, PC) – Eidos
19. Left 4 Dead (360, PC) – EA
20. Ben 10: Alien Force (PS2, PSP, Wii, DS) – D3P
21. The Lord of the Rings: Conquest (360, PS3, PC, DS) – Electronic Arts
22. LEGO Batman (Wii, DS, 360, PS2, PS3, PSP, PC) – Warner Bros.
23. LEGO Indiana Jones (Wii, DS, 360, PS3, PS2, PSP, PC) – LucasArts
24. Shaun White Snowboading (Wii, 360, PS3, PSP, DS, PC) – Ubisoft
25. Football Manager 2009 (PC, PSP) – Sega
26. COD 4: Modern Warfare (360, PS3, PC, Mac) – Activision Blizzard
27. Pro Evolution Soccer 2009 (360, PS3, PS2, PSP, PC) – Konami
28. Mario Kart DS (DS) – Nintendo
29. LittleBigPlanet (PS3) – Sony
30. Sonic Unleashed (Wii, 360, PS3) – Sega
31. Warhammer 40,000: Dawn of War II (PC) – THQ
32. New Super Mario Bros (DS) – Nintendo
33. Guitar Hero III: Legends of Rock (Wii, PS2, PS3, 360, PC) – Activision Blizzard
34. House of The Dead: Overkill (Wii) – Sega
35. More Brain Training From Dr Kawashima (DS) – Nintendo
36. Sega Mega Drive Ultimate Collection (PS3, 360) – Sega
37. Fallout 3 (PS3, 360, PC) – Bethesda
38. Saints Row 2 (360, PS3) – THQ
39. Wall*E (Wii, DS, PSP, PS3, PS2, 360, PC) – THQ
40. Tiger Woods PGA Tour 09 (Wii, PS2, 360, PSP, PS2) – EA
41. Quantum of Solace (360, PS3, Wii, PC) – Activision Blizzard
42. Gears of War 2 (360) – Microsoft
43. WWE Smackdown VS Raw 2009 (PS3, 360, Wii, PS2, PSP) – THQ
44. Big Beach Sports (Wii) – THQ
45. Disney’s Bolt (DS, Wii, PS2, PS3, 360) – Disney Interactive Studios
46. Big Brain Academy: Wii Degree (Wii) – Nintendo
47. SimAnimals (Wii, DS) – EA
48. Resistance 2 (PS3) – Sony
49. Kung Fu Panda (360, DS, Wii, PS3, PS2, PC) – Activision Blizzard
50. LEGO Star Wars: The Complete Saga (Wii, DS, 360, PS3) – LucasArts

SALES SHARE BY FORMAT – UNITS(last month in brackets)

1 (1) Nintendo Wii – 24.4%
2 (2) Nintendo DS – 21.5%
3 (4) PC – 18.0%
4 (3) Xbox 360 – 17.0%
5 (5) PlayStation 3 – 11.6%
6 (7) PSP – 3.7%
7 (6) PlayStation 2 – 3.6%
8 (8) Apple Mac – 0.2%
9 (9) Others – 0.0%

SALES SHARE BY FORMAT – VALUE (last month in brackets)

1 (1) Nintendo Wii – 24.2%
2 (2) Xbox 360 – 20.5%
3 (3) Nintendo DS – 18.2%
4 (4) PC – 17.3%
5 (5) PlayStation 3 – 14.4%
6 (6) PSP – 2.6%
7 (7) PlayStation 2 – 2.4%
8 (8) Apple Mac – 0.5%
9 (9) Others – 0.0%

SOFTWARE SHARE BY COMPANY – UNITS(last month in brackets)

1 (2) Nintendo – 15.6%
2 (1) Electronic Arts – 13.7%
3 (3) Ubisoft – 9.4%
4 (4) Activision Blizzard – 8.0%
5 (5) Sega – 5.5%
6 (6) Microsoft – 4.7%
7 (7) THQ – 4.7%
8 (8) Take 2 – 4.0%
9 (9) Sony – 3.7%
10 (10) Symantec – 2.5%

SOFTWARE SHARE BY COMPANY – VALUE(last month in brackets)

1 (2) Nintendo – 18.0%
2 (1) Electronic Arts – 14.6%
3 (3) Activision Blizzard – 9.1%
4 (4) Microsoft – 8.0%
5 (5) Ubisoft – 7.1%
6 (6) Sega – 5.0%
7 (7) THQ – 4.1%
8 (10) Symantec – 3.4%
9 (8) Sony – 3.3%
10 (9) Take 2 – 3.2%

No surprises as Nintendo reclaims its space at the top of the rankings due to a larger wedge of the market claimed by its DS and Wii formats, no doubt driving sales of its first party software. But it’s more interesting to note an uplift in the often maligned PC market.

The humble home computer has grown its market share in unit terms by three per cent. February saw the release of some new titles with PC SKUs, such as F.E.A.R. 2, but given that the format is actually down in a value sense, it seems that budget and back catalogue sales drove the format to grow. That’s especially clear when you count that there are just 17 PC SKUs in this month’s Top 50 versus 19 in last month’s.

At the same time, it seems that the unit growth of PC could have come at the expense of the 360. With both unit sales and value down month on month, it’s possible that owners simply bought less software in February – plus a lot of the newer releases during last month were on Wii.

According to MCV’s calculations, the market was worth over 100m for the month of February – a slight dip on last year, where the month accounted for around 110m. That’s not to say the software market is heading into a slide after 2008’s triumphant figures.

March is packed with key releases, including GTA on DS and Resident Evil 5, plus continued sales of Killzone 2 – all of which should provide serious uplift during the coming month.