UK Games Magazine Market Dips

Newly released ABC (Audit Bureau of Circulation) figures show a small dip in the UK games magazine market, although Future Publishing still remains dominant across most formats. Future’s UK magazine portfolio experienced a year on year dip of 3.8% at 6661,539 copies per month. The company does however maintain a 65% market share of the UK games magazine market by volume and 70% by value. Official PlayStation 2 Magazine was the best seller at 188,079 copies per month, despite a drop in sales of 3.7%. Official Xbox Magazine however managed figures of 80,179 per month and is officially the fastest growing consumer magazine in the UK with a 108% increase on last year. Rival UK titles from publishers such as Paragon Publishing and Dennis Publishing experienced a similar percentage drop, which is largely attributed to the small number of recent games releases and the lack of new hardware on the market. Meanwhile Future’s US division reported a much healthier 61% rise year on year. With their best seller PSM pushing 403,617 copies a month - an 18% rise on last year. ABC figures for all UK magazines can be found here: http://www.accessabc.com