UK Edition
Gaming worth more than video and music combined in record UK entertainment revenues
Video games now account for half of all UK entertainment revenues and are worth more than video and music combined, according to new figures released by the Entertainment Retailers Association.
The ERA, the UK trade body for film, music and video game retail, said that the value of the UK gaming market has risen to £3.9bn, making up 51.3pc of the entertainment market's all-time high revenues of £7.5bn.
The figures showed a 2.8pc shrinkage in physical unit sales compared to a 'modest' 12.5pc growth in digital. Digital now makes up over 80pc of video game revenues, but the ERA said that FIFA 19, Red Dead Redemption 2 and Call of Duty: Black Ops 4 all sold over a million physical copies in the UK in 2018.
Rockstar Games, publisher of Red Dead Redemption 2, said that the launch of the Wild West adventure was the second biggest global entertainment launch in history, behind only its own game Grand Theft Auto V. However, FIFA 19 was the UK's biggest selling title of 2018 with 2.5m copies.
"The games industry has been incredibly effective in taking advantage of the potential of digital technology to offer new and compelling forms of entertainment," said ERA chief executive Kim Bayley. "Despite being the youngest of our three sectors, it is now by far the biggest."
The global gaming market is estimated at £110bn and is forecast to grow to £180bn by 2022 according to analysts Newzoo. The UK gaming market is ranked 5th in the world, behind China, the US, Japan, South Korea and Germany.
The ERA said that the record high for the UK entertainment industry was driven by the success of digital and streaming services such as Spotify and Netflix, which accounts for more than three-quarters of revenue.