Games market worth £3.864bn, more than doubling in value since 2007; FIFA 19 is 2018 top seller.
The gaming market is now bigger than music and video combined, with new figures from the ERA (Entertainment Retailers Association) showing that it now accounts for more than half of the entire UK entertainment market.
Total sales for the games market reached £3.863m in 2018, compared with £1.334.9m for music and £2.337m for video.
The figures means that the games market – boosted by digital sales – has more than doubled in value since 2007.
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.”
FIFA 19 was the UK’s biggest selling console game of 2018, with a number of other games which are recognised as licensed IP also making the top 20.
These include Call of Duty: Black Ops 4, Marvel’s Spider-Man, Mario Kart 8 Deluxe, Far Cry 5, Crash Bandicoot N.Sane Trilogy, Pokémon: Let’s Go, Pikachu and Shadow of the Tomb Raider.
Meanwhile, within the video sector, the best selling film was The Greatest Showman, which sold 2.69 million units (71.3% of them on DVD or Blu-ray).
It was followed by Avengers: Infinity War, Mamma Mia: Here We Go Again, Star Wars The Last Jedi, Paddington 2 and Peter Rabbit.
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