UK January charts: market stumbles

January software sales in the UK were down year-on-year despite a slew of major new releases.

The likes of Bayonetta, Darksiders, Army of Two: The 40th Day, Mass Effect 2 and MAG were all launched last month, leading some to believe the UK games market would have a strong start to the year.

But figures from Gfk Chart-Track show unit sales down 16 per cent month on month in the UK, while software revenue has dropped 12 per cent when compared to the same period in 2009.

However the comparisons come against a very strong January 2009, which benefitted from a wave of triple-A titles released during Christmas 2008.

We had some big titles right from week one this year,” said Chart-Track director Dorian Bloch.

If you compare that to last time round, there was very little out in week one and two.

The difference being is that in Christmas 2008 you had a lot of triple-A titles fighting it out, and they carried on selling into the next year. January 2009 was a very strong month – it was following on from 2008, which was the biggest year ever for video games. This time round the market is a bit different.”

Christmas releases including Just Dance, Modern Warfare 2 and Wii Fit Plus performed strongest during January – the former made it to number one for the whole month. The only 2010 releases to break into the monthly Top Ten were EA’s Mass Effect 2 and Army of Two: The 40th Day.

The top 10 titles for the month can be found below:

January’s big sellers in the UK

1 Just Dance (Wii) Ubisoft
2 COD: Modern Warfare 2 (360, PS3, DS, PC) Activision
3 Wii Fit Plus (Wii) Nintendo
4 Mass Effect 2 (Xbox 360) Microsoft
5 Wii Sports Resort (Wii) Nintendo
6 FIFA 10 (360, PS3, Wii, PSP, DS, PS2, PC) EA
7 New Super Mario Bros Wii (Wii) Nintendo
8 Army of Two: The 40th Day (Xbox 360, PS3, PSP) EA
9 Assassin’s Creed II (Xbox 360, PS3, DS) Ubisoft
10 James Cameron’s Avatar (360, PS3, Wii, PSP, DS, PC) Ubisoft