UK game industry beats Japan, takes second place

The reality of the Japanese gaming market is rather grim. As the industry continues to tumble in the region, other territories like the UK are climbing the ladder. GfK-ChartTrack reveals that the British software market grew by 26 percent last year – a sharp contrast to Japan's yearly decline. It's a bit ironic to hear all this, considering that major Japanese developers are the ones making the big bucks in Britain while local companies are getting reshuffled.

In any case, growth continues to follow through into 2009 as the first five weeks of the year witnessed massive year-on-year growth for the UK. Console unit sales went up by 37 percent over that of last year and revenue is up 21 percent. This all means that the Brits have knocked Japan down into third place and are now the second largest game territory in the world – after having used Japan's own assets against them. Ouch.