Lifetime UK console sales revealed

By Robert Purchese Published 22 April, 2009

PS2 leads, but it all adds up.

GAME has revealed lifetime UK sales figures for the current crop of consoles using secret GfK Chart Track figures.

PS2 is the leader with 10m sales, according to the yearly financial report, but has had nearly 10 years (November 2000 launch) to accrue that.

The DS (March 2005) follows closely with 8.8m sales, ahead of big brother Wii (December 2006) with 4.9m sales. The PSP (September 2005) and Xbox 360 (December 2005) tie on 3.2m sales, and PS3 (March 2007) comes last with 1.9m sales.

The same report goes on to offer some interesting statistics about our market.

We're told 22.5m consoles have been sold this - third - generation and there are "multiple winners". Last generation 16.5m consoles were sold and the PS2 was the winner. But only 10m consoles were sold the generation before and the PS1 was the "clear winner".

Furthermore - and according to GAME Reward Card sales - 55 percent of people buying during this generation are under 35 years-old and 64 per cent of them are male. Last generation 68 per cent were under 35 years-old and 75 per cent were male. And in the first generation 76 per cent were under 35 years-old and 88 per cent were male.

Clearly people are growing older and more effeminate.

Picture of Robert.

About Robert Purchese

Bertie is Eurogamer's Senior Staff Writer. When he's not hunting down news stories he's often found playing with his kids or gabbling about fantasy games and strange online worlds. @Clert on Twitter.

Read more articles from Robert by visiting the Robert Purchese archive page.

You may also like...

Comments (11) Latest comment 3 years ago

Comments for this article are now closed, but please feel free to continue chatting on the forum!

  • Sharzam #1 3 years ago

    Gaming has been growing for years, i guess just a matter of time till every demographic shops in GAME and the like, in the same way that all groups buy DVDs.

  • JetSetWilly #2 3 years ago

    Surely it's nearly 9 years?

  • rinks #3 3 years ago

    So we're only in the third generation right now? I guess that means the industry only started once Sony said so.

  • alimokrane #4 3 years ago

    Rob, what are you smoking today ? You guys have reported on the console installed base in JANUARY here
    [link url=http://www.eurogamer.net/articles/wii-is-most-popular-console-in-the-uk
    ]http://www.eurogamer.net/articles/wii-is...[/link]

    The only new information is the last paragraph.

  • mooseman721 #5 3 years ago

    its true, I'm definitely older, i didn't notice how effeminate I'd become until you mentioned it tho.

  • Azazel #6 3 years ago

    I just keep getting more and more right-wing.

  • bad09 #7 3 years ago

    "We're told 22.5m consoles have been sold this - third - generation"

    3rd Generation for who? Only Sony is in it's 3rd generation. MS 2nd and a half (DC), Ninty.....ooooh.....

    / counts "wee,Cube,64,SNES (yay!), NES, Game & Watch

    ....what 6th? Also, what about all those generations in between? Please don't tell me Amiga is wiped from gaming history. I may ACTUALLY cry and hit an ST fan....
    Edited by bad09 at 22/04/09 @ 18:35

  • secombe #8 3 years ago

    As far as I can tell (very roughly) in terms of consoles, I've lived through 6 distinct eras, even if the lines do begin to blur after the obvious 8-bit, 16-bit, 32-bit designations...

    - Atari 2600, ColecoVision
    - Master System, NES
    - Mega Drive, SNES, Neo Geo
    - Jaguar, Saturn, 3DO, PS1, N64
    - Dreamcast, XBox, PS2, Gamecube
    - 360, PS3, Wii

    By anyone's guess we must be in at least generation 6, possibly 7 as my knowledge doesn't extend further back than my first console (Atari 7800)

  • mkreku #9 3 years ago

    Damn those fat girls buying Wii Fit, destroying my h4rdc0re gaming!!1!

  • chessboxer #10 3 years ago

    The PS3, 360 and Wii are all seventh generation home consoles.

    The first generation started with consoles like the Magnavox Odyssey and the Coleco Telstar (1972-1977). The Atari 2600 was a second generation console.

  • Sharzam #11 3 years ago

    "I dont think so. Compare those numbers to amount of ppl on planet and you have a pretty pathetic percentage of ppl playing games."

    I agree with you there, but as i said its matter of time whether that be 5 years, 10 years, 20 years ... etc. There is no way to know how long but the fact of matter is that ever since the 70s when gaming first started really, it has become more mainstream every day.