The UK video game market reached an astonishing milestone last year, achieving a value of £5.11 billion, a rise of 12.4% on the previous year.
To put that into perspective, if you look solely at retail sales, video game sales are 25% higher than film and a whopping 180% higher than the music industry.
This is despite what’s being seen as a major slowdown in consumer spending.
The figures, produced by trade body UK Interactive Entertainment, show that new consoles such as the Nintendo Switch, Xbox One X and PS4 Pro helped drive what was an impressive year across the board.
Game software remained the largest part of the market, with overall sales increasing 8.3% to a new high of £3.56 billion.
Digital and online PC and console sales also saw a significant increase, up 13.4% to £1.6 billion, although physical sales of new software also rose by 3.1% to £790 million, driven in part by the popularity of the new Nintendo Switch.
The success of new game sales contributed to a drop in sales of pre-owned software, down 15.1% to £101 million.
Console sales were up 30% on the previous year to £659 million as players invested in new releases such as the Nintendo Switch, PS4 Pro and Xbox One X, while UK consumers spent more than £100 million on headsets for the first time.
Ukie chief executive Jo Twist said: “It’s been another year of growth for the games industry with UK consumers demonstrating they have a strong appetite for what our innovative and creative sector makes.
“The games sector is constantly innovating and investing in new experiences, technologies and the skilled people to make an ever more compelling and diverse range of games, bringing tremendous value for money to consumers year on year.”
Dorian Bloch, GfK senior client insight director for entertainment, said: “With Sony’s PS4 showing four consecutive years of over one million units sold per year, a strong performance from Microsoft’s sub £200 Xbox One S and premium core gamer Xbox One X, plus the introduction of Nintendo’s Switch enjoying the best start for a Nintendo home console since the mighty Wii back in 2006, it is clear that the console gaming market is now enjoying a renaissance.”