The value of videogame and console sales in the UK fell 18 per cent in 2009. This is not as bad as it may seem at first sight - 2008 was a record year and 2009 ranks as the second best for the games sector.

According to figures from industry watcher GfK Chart-Track, UK gamers spent £3.3bn on videogames last year – down from £4bn ($6.3bn/€4.4bn) in 2008.

Console hardware revenue also dropped from £1.4bn in 2008 to just over £1bn ($1.7bn/€1.1bn) in 2009, Chart-Track added.

However, Mike Rawlinson - director general of the Entertainment and Leisure Software Publishers Association, said that although sales were down last year “the UK videogames industry has weathered the economic storm”.

He drew on the popularity of recently released videogame Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2, the first videogame to top Amazon’s general product best seller list, as proof of the games industry’s “coming of age”.

Just over 74m videogames and 6.7m videogame consoles were sold in Blighty last year, Chart-Track added. ®