Gaming market now bigger than video and music combined

The video games market now accounts for more than half of the entire UK entertainment market (51.3%), the Entertainment Retailer Association (ERA) has said.

Total sales for the games market reached £3,863m in 2018, compared with the total music sales, increasing by £1,334m, and video sales, which reached £2,337m last year.

According to the group the physical console and PC games market shrank slightly in 2018, down 2.8% to £769.9m, and digital growth was by recent standards a modest 12.5% to £3.094m, but it added that the “sheer scale” of the games market makes it bigger than video and music combined.

The ERA said that gaming, more than any other sector, has benefitted from a “proliferation of new services” from direct to console downloads and mobile and social gaming, with the sector more than doubling in value since 2007 – now worth £3.864bn.

ERA CEO Kim Bayley said: “The games industry has been incredibly effective in taking advantage of the potential of digital technology to offer new and compelling forms of entertainment. Despite being the youngest of our three sectors, it is now by far the biggest.”