The overall video gaming market in the UK hit record highs of £7.16bn last year, though sales of video games themselves actually fell.
The total figure includes everything from games and consoles to mobile gaming, events and merchandise.
The £7.16bn figure represents a year-on-year rise of 1.9%, which is relatively modest compared to 2020’s huge lockdown-fuelled surge.
The gaming market rose by close to 30% between 2019 and 2020, rising from £5.35bn to £7bn.
While 2021’s rise was much lower, many experts had predicted that the total would fall slightly from 2020’s then-record spend, especially as lockdown restrictions were eased.
Income from the sales of video game software did fall by 6.3% compared with 2020, bringing in £4.28bn.
The five best-selling games in the UK, including both physical copies and digital downloads, were FIFA 22, Grand Theft Auto V, FIFA 21, Mario Kart 8 Deluxe and Call of Duty: Black Ops Cold War.
Revenue from mobile games remained broadly the same as 2020 levels at £1.46bn.
Next-gen consoles boosted overall revenues
One area that saw a major increase was the sale of gaming consoles, including the highly sought-after PlayStation 5 and Xbox Series X/S.
There had been several issues affecting the availability of these next-gen consoles, with supply chain issues and the global chip shortage restricting numbers that actually hit the shops and made it into gamers’ hands when they were released at the end of 2020.
Console hardware sales made up £1.13bn of the total gaming market in 2021, encouraged by these still relatively new platforms and the release of a new Nintendo Switch.
As availability continues to improve and more titles are released, high console sales are likely to continue this year.
The lack of new games for the new platforms was criticised in many quarters and may have contributed to the downturn in game sales in 2021.
A number of big titles, including Elden Ring, Horizon Forbidden West, Starfield and Hogwarts Legacy have already been released or are on the horizon in 2022, and publishers are hoping that this will fuel a resurgence in sales.
Another area to see a significant rise was virtual reality (VR) hardware, which rose by more than 40% to hit £183m in 2021.
VR has been heralded as the future of gaming for some time now, but has so far failed to break through on a major scale.
Today’s news was brought to you by TD SYNNEX – the UK’s number one solutions distributor.
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