THE BUZZ: UKIE has announced that it is preparing to offer a ranking of PlayStation Network and Xbox Live game sales in the next few weeks.

The charts will only be based off U.K. digital sales at the moment, but it’s a step in the right direction. “We’re in conversations about XBLA and PSN,” UKIE chairman Andy Payne. “Because they are very important as well. You could argue that we should have started with that. And I wouldn’t disagree. At the time, people were touchy about data. But attitudes have changed amongst content owners and platform holders.”

EGM’s TAKE: Even though the charts will only cover U.K. sales to begin with, you can expect that a U.S. company will begin tracking digital sales also if the idea takes off. As we move closer to a digital age, with more and more arcade titles releasing every month, it makes sense to start tracking them in an official chart similar to retail. This gives Indie and smaller developers a much bigger chance to get noticed as their games will now be ranked in official sale charts, that in turn can influence gamers to make purchases. The Indie revolution has already begun and we believe that over the next couple of years it will continue to gain strength as game quality and distribution channels improve.

Would you like to see a download chart? Leave a comment below.

Source: MVC