Aussies gamers spend AU$340 million in H1 2006
Australians spent more than AU$340 million on games hardware and software in the first half of this year, recently released figures from GfK Australia show.
Australians spent more than AU$340 million on games hardware and software in the first half of this year, recently released figures from GfK Australia show.
Australians spent AU$225 million on buying 4.7 million individual pieces of games software in the first six months of 2006, while AU$118 million was spent on hardware. The newly released Xbox 360, which first went on sale in March of this year, took up a decent chunk of that hardware spend, with 80,000 units now in the Australian market.
On the software side, Australians voted with their wallets to make the Grand Theft Auto and The Sims franchises the most popular in the country. GTA: San Andreas Platinum for the PS2 was the top selling console game for the first half of 2006 (bookended by the Xbox version at number 10), while The Sims 2: Open for Business headed the list of PC games. PlayStation 2 games dominated the top 10 console games list, with nine of the titles being PS2 software and four exclusive to Sony's current-gen platform (AFL Premiership 2005, Buzz: The Big Quiz, SingStar Rocks! and Buzz: The Music Quiz). EA's juggernaut Sims franchise dominated the PC charts, with eight of the top 10 being Sims-related titles. Only World of Warcraft (number two) and Age of Empires III (number four) broke up the Sims dominance.
GfK's full figures for the first half of 2006, including total install base for all consoles, can be found below.
Console Games -- H1 2006
- 1. GTA: San Andreas Platinum -- PS2, Rockstar
- 2. V8 Supercars 3 -- PS2, Codemasters
- 3. AFL Premiership 2005 -- PS2, Sony
- 4. Buzz: The Big Quiz bundle -- PS2, Sony
- 5. SingStar Rocks! (software only) -- PS2, Sony
- 6. Ratchet and Clank 3 Platinum -- PS2, Sony
- 7. Simpsons Hit and Run Platinum -- PS2, Fox Interactive
- 8. Buzz: The Music Quiz bundle -- PS2, Sony
- 9. FIFA 2006 World Cup -- PS2, EA
- 10. GTA: San Andres Classics -- Xbox, Rockstar
PC Games -- H1 2006
- 1. The Sims 2: Open for Business -- EA
- 2. World of WarCraft -- Vivendi
- 3. The Sims 2: Nightlife -- EA
- 4. Age of Empires III -- Microsoft
- 5. The Sim Unleashed -- EA
- 6. The Sims -- EA
- 7. The Sims 2: Family Fun Stuff -- EA
- 8. The Sims Deluxe -- EA
- 9. The Sims 2: University -- EA
- 10. The Sims 2
Console/handheld install base to 30/07/06 (units 000s)
- 1. PlayStation 2 -- 1809
- 2. GameBoy Advance -- 857
- 3. Xbox -- 835
- 4. Nintendo DS -- 286
- 5. PlayStation Portable -- 181
- 6. GameCube -- 161
- 7. Xbox 360 -- 80
Figures courtesy of GfK Australia.