The most recent UK Consumer Video Games Market Valuation launched in March 2022. To access the most recent valuation, click here.
The UK games market was valued at a record £4.33bn in 2016, up +1.2% from the 2015 figures.
The result shows positive growth for the games and interactive entertainment economy, including an +11.1% increase in digital console and PC games sales to £1.22bn and an impressive +16.9% rise in UK mobile games revenue - now worth £995m.
Physical boxed software sales declined -15.2% to £766.7m, although this drop was more than made up by gains in the digital and mobile sectors. Pre-owned software saw a slight drop of -3.3% to £119m, with a lower average selling price masking an increase of sales. Overall, software sales in the UK exceeded £3bn for the first time.
The consumer release of the first VR headsets has helped fuel the growth of the sector though the sales of VR hardware, valued at £61.3m and included in the market valuation for the first time. The impact of VR was also seen in the sale of top-end graphics cards, driving a huge +64% increase in PC game hardware to £258m.
As the current generation of the console cycle matures, there was an expected reduction in sales of new console hardware, down -26.7% to £507m. Console perhiperals and accessories was similarly affected, dropping -16.6% to £300.1m.
UK games events have also seen a strong increase, up 20.6% from 2015, fuelled by a growing esports scene in the UK and consumers engaging more with the industry at UK-wide games shows such as popular Insomnia and upcoming EGX Rezzed.
The successes of both Pokémon GO and Minecraft were factors in increases for both categories for game-related toys and merchandise, and books and magazines. Toys and merchandise sales increased by +7.2% to £66.7m, with books and magazines increasing +13% to £18.4m.
Games' influence on the other creative sectors continues to grow, with games movies and soundtrack sales increasing +14.4% to £7.8m, helped along by the success of Duncan Jones' 'Warcraft: The Beginning'.
The UK games 2016 consumer spend valuation details in full are as follows:
| SEGMENT | DATA SOURCE | 2015 (£m) | 2016 (£m) | % GROWTH |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Digital & online | SuperData | 1,101.4 | 1,223.5 | +11.1% |
| Boxed Software | GfK Entertainment | 903.9 | 766.7 | -15.2% |
| Mobile revenues | SuperData | 851.1 | 995.1 | +16.9% |
| Pre-owned | Kantar Worldpanel | 123.0 | 119.0 | -3.3% |
| SOFTWARE TOTAL | 2,979.4 | 3,104.3 | +4.2% | |
| Console hardware | GfK Entertainment | 692.6 | 507.5 | -26.7% |
| PC game hardware | GfK Entertainment | 157.0 | 258.0 | +64.3% |
| Perhiperals & accessories | GfK Entertainment | 359.8 | 300.2 | -16.6% |
| VR hardware | SuperData | - | 61.3 | - |
| HARDWARE TOTAL | 1,209.4 | 1,126.9 | -6.8% | |
| Toys & merchandise | NPD | 62.3 | 66.8 | +7.2% |
| Books & magazines | Nielsen | ABC | Ukie | 16.3 | 18.4 | +13.2% |
| Movies & soundtracks | Official Charts Company | 6.9 | 7.8 | +14.4% |
| Events & venues | Ukie | 6.2 | 7.5 | +20.6 |
| OTHERS TOTAL | 91.7 | 100.6 | +9.7% | |
| TOTAL | 4,280.4 | 4,331.8 | +1.2% |