UK unit for the first five weeks of 2009 show a 37 per cent improvement on last year's numbers.

GfK-ChartTrack director Dorian Bloch told MCV: "I haven't got a crystal ball, but it's very much a possibility that the will overtake in terms of annual software revenue"

The recent closing-down sales of UK high street retailers could be one of the reasons for the increase, so Bloch is waiting until later in the year.

"We need to wait until the middle of the year and have a firm date for DSi's launch. Then we'll really know what sort of year we'll have," said Bloch.

Now, if only UK shopping centres had some more software stores that could be closed...

By James Wallis