Annual UK Sales Hit New High

Annual sales in the UK have hit a new high according to data released from trade association ELSPA. Sales for the year were £1.26 billion ($2.3 billion), solidifying the UK as the largest single market in Europe. However, in separate data, it seems hardware sales over the Christmas period have been down by over 10%, from the same period in 2002. For the four weeks from 30th November to 27th December PlayStation 2 sales were down by a third and Xbox sales down by 5%. GameCube and Game Boy Advance sales were both up on the previous year though, with an increase of 33% and 16%, respectively. In total sales though the PlayStation still managed to outsell the Xbox by 2.69 to 1 and the GameCube by 4.81 to 1. In a noticeably weak Christmas for the Xbox, the console was pushed into third place by the Game Boy Advance which sold 10% more units than Microsoft's machine.