Video game sales have reported a fall in the world's largest markets last year, according to a new report from three groups that track the industry.

Unit sales of video games in three major territories plunged by 8 percent in 2009 due to recession.

Net unit sales in the United Kingdom, Japan, and the U. S. were 379.3 million in 2009, lowered from 8 percent from the year before, reported the data from market researchers NPD Group, GfK Chart-Track, and Enterbrain.

Sales in Japan witnessed a fall of 2 percent — a 5 percent decline in console software units and a 1 percent decline in portable game software.

U. S. unit sales fell 7 percent, while UK unit sales registered 14% fall. In the U. S., console game unit sales fell 7 percent and portable game sales fell 6 percent. Console unit game sales fell 8 percent in the UK and portable game sales fell 25 percent.

One of the big reasons for the plunge in the sales is cited to be as so many people have yet to ditch PlayStation 2, a gaming system that entered the market in 2000, which signifies that consumers aren't purchasing releases for new gaming systems such as the Wii, the Xbox 360 and the PlayStation 3.

Anita Frazier, industry analyst at the NPD Group, claimed that while video game sales fell last year, "the industry is still boasting significant volumes that were unseen before 2008".