Console installed base in UK hits 22 million

Home consoles account for 10 million - Wii accounts for almost half of that

13 January 2009 18:29 GMT / By Verity Burns

Sales data cited in GAME's Christmas trading statement has reported that the total console installed base in the UK has jumped to 22 million, a boost of 8.5 million since January 2008.

Gfk-ChartTrack's data shows that the sales of the big three consoles have gone up from 4.7 million to 10 million units as of 3 January, with the Wii accounting for nearly half these sales. In fact, Nintendo's console saw sales rise from 2 million consoles in January 2008 to 4.9 million in 2009.

That's not to say the other two didn't see impressive growth as well. The PS3 installed base over the past year more than doubled from 0.9 million to 1.9 million, while sales for the Xbox 360 fell just short of doubling, rising from 1.8 million to 3.2 million.

Not to be left out, handheld unit sales also saw a rise from eight million to 12 million, with DS dominating the sales with 8.8 million and PSP cleaning up the 3.2 million remaining.

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