Hopefully things will turn around come Christmas time

It has been reported that UK games retail generated just £8.4 million in the week ending July 29th.

Data analysis based on data from UKIE/GfK Chart-Track suggests that the figure marks the worst week of business at games retail since records began.

Just under 395,000 games were sold during the week. This figure does not include sales of digital products something that is widely thought to currently contribute about a third of total game revenues. It also doesn’t include MMOs, free-to-play games or streaming services.

The slump appears to be due to several contributing factors, the first being the macroeconomic situation across Europe resulting in an attitude more keen on saving cash than spending on luxury items. The console cycle appears at the end of it’s run with publishers and developers eager to move onto the next generation. The Wii U is on it’s way later this year, but so far Microsoft and Sony have kept quiet about their future plans.

Finally the usual summer drought has meant hardly any noteworthy titles have been released. However things are expected to pick up around September when several AAA games make their appearance.