From motor racing to music-making; football to fantasy; action adventures to artificial societies, UK demand for the latest video games is driving the leisure software market to new heights. The latest figures published today by ELSPA (The Entertainment & Leisure Software Publishers Association) sourced by Chart-Track show that in the first half of this year, consumers spent �GBP 229 million on leisure software, up 13 percent on the same period last year. The driving force behind this growth is undoubtedly software for videogame consoles particularly for the new formats - PS2, Xbox, GameCube and Gameboy Advance.

Whilst year on year unit sales for both home computer software and console software was down slightly (by four percent and three percent respectively) the value of sales for console software showed a massive increase of 22 percent. According to ELSPA, this demonstrates the buoyancy of the market as the demand for new product is such that consumers are prepared to pay top prices to get their hands on games as soon as they are released.

The figures also show that the market is no longer affected by the downward trends that traditionally used to appear before the introduction of a new format. Whilst sales of software for PlayStation One and Gameboy and Gameboy Colour are inevitably declining following the introduction of new formats, these new formats are promoting massive demand for software. For Q2 2002 PS2 software has seen a year on year three-fold increase in sales over the same quarter last year to reach 2.5 million units, with a value of �GBP 81 million. Similar increases have been seen in software for Gameboy Advance. Sales of software for this hand-held format have risen more than three-fold to reach 500,000 units with a value of �GBP 15 million.

In the first half of this year, the market has also been boosted by the introduction of two completely new consoles: Microsoft's Xbox launched on 14 March followed by Nintendo's Gamecube on 3 May. Software for these platforms has sold well in Q2 2002 with 400,000 units of XBox games valued at �GBP 16 million and 600,000 units of Gamecube software valued at �GBP 20 million.

During the first half of the year, ten games have achieved ELSPA's Gold Sales Award for sales of over 200,000 units. These are: For PlayStation format - Worms Armageddon; for PS2 format - 007: Agent Under Fire, WWF Smackdown: Just Bring It, Fifa 2002, Metal Gear Solid 2, Tony Hawk's Pro Skater 3, Tekken Tag Tournament and Pro Evolution Soccer; for GameBoy Advance - Mario Kart Super Circuit and for CD ROM - The Sims: Livin It Up. One game, Pokemon Gold for GameBoy, reached the Platinum Award level of over 300,000, whilst Grand Theft Auto 3 for PS2 format topped the 600,000 plus level during this period, becoming the first game to receive an ELSPA Double Platinum Award.

Roger Bennett, Director General of ELSPA, commented:

"The first half of this year has been dynamic both in terms of the financial value of leisure software sales achieved and in the variety, creativity and popularity of titles released. The UK has an unparalleled global reputation for producing great games. As the figures show, the passion of our games developers is matched only by the public's hunger for new, faster, more exciting product. Games publishers are meeting these demands and as a result, the UK leisure software market is now the fastest growing sector of the UK entertainment media."