Games giants launch price offensive

The games market was plunged into a high street price war after the three biggest retailers slashed PlayStation titles by up to one-third in a drive to snatch trade and stimulate demand.

HMV, Virgin Megastores and Electronics Boutique each put a price ceiling of £29.99 on PlayStation titles. WH Smith was routed in the battle as some of its titles, including the launch of the much-hyped Driver released on 25 June, were still £44.99.

Steve Kincaid, commercial director of Virgin Megastores, said: 'For the past year, gamers have been telling us that they are not prepared to pay £40-plus for a game. We have looked with concern at the PlayStation Chartrack volumes, which have shown a definite drop in the sales of full price games and a rise, to almost double the volume, of budget titles.'

He added the average price paid for a PlayStation title had dropped from £38 to £29, and that customers believed games were overpriced.

In Electronics Boutique's AGM statement - which confirmed the final integration of the acquired Game stores - Peter Lewis, chairman of Electronics Boutique, said: 'Overall sales growth for the Electronics Boutique group from 1 February to 12 June, was 18.7 per cent. Like-for-like sales were down 1.8 per cent due in large part to a delay in the release of titles.'

Nick Gibson, analyst at Durlacher, said: 'The games market is a bit unsteady at the moment. Market growth in the UK this year will be between 10 and 20 per cent, lower than many who quoted it at above 20 per cent.