PS3 Rules UK Retail in June, Commands 40 Per Cent Software Share

While the PlayStation 3 is generally the platform of choice in Europe, it’s forced to sit behind the Xbox 360 in the UK. A strong marketing presence from Microsoft means that, while still popular, Sony’s system is regularly treated as second-best in the region. Despite this, though, the release of The Last of Us has propelled the console to the top of the hardware charts for the first time in years, capping an incredible month for the Japanese giant.

Indeed, not only was the PS3 the best selling machine of the period, but The Last of Us was also the number one game, and Sony was the most successful publisher. MCV reports that the console actually commanded an incredible 40 per cent software share during the timeframe, which is almost half of the entire market.

In all, over 1.85 million games were sold in June, which is down 13.2 per cent year-over-year, but up 46 per cent over May 2013. We suspect that a lot of that increase was down to The Last of Us. To think that EA executive Frank Gibeau only recently said that the “market doesn’t reward new properties this late in the generation”. We wonder if he’s changed his mind yet.