Europe 'to lead video games market'

Xbox wants a slice of the European market

Western Europe will become the world's biggest market for computer games software within two years, an industry body has said.

As Microsoft's Xbox counts down to its European launch, the European Leisure Software Publishers Association (ELSPA) announced that it expected the market to exceed that of North America by 2004.

Roger Bennett, director general of ELSPA, said: "It's mainly because here you have countries which, until now, have not traditionally had a big market for gaming."

Computer games markets

US/Canada £5.6bn

Western Europe £4.2bn

Japan £2.8bn

Source: ELSPA 2002

"The European market is steadily expanding."

"It is in the US and Japan as well, but there is a greater degree of opportunity in Europe," added Mr Bennett.

Western Europe already lies in second place for annual sales of computer games, ahead of Japan, but behind the combined US and Canadian market.

Sony's PS2 has sold heavily worldwide

ELSPA says that it is growth in Spain, Portugal and the Scandinavian countries which will be most marked.

As for the UK, the organisation's figures show that some 30% of British households currently have video games consoles - and ELSPA predicts this figure could double within three years.

Prize

The prediction comes 30 years since Pong, for the Atari console, was launched in the US - the world's first home computer game.

The European market is the prize which Microsoft hopes to win with the launch of its much-hyped Xbox at midnight on Wednesday.

Nintendo's GameCube is also enterng the market

It is being marketed as the world's most powerful console and Microsoft has said it will sell between 4.5 million and six million units around the world by the end of June.

But the console is up against the new GameCube from rival Nintendo, which goes on sale in the UK on 3 May for about £150 - half the price of the £299 Xbox.

But both will be facing another threat, from Sony's PS2, which was launched in November 2000 and has already sold 18 million consoles worldwide.