UK GAMING MARKET HIT RECORD £7BN IN 2020 DURING LOCKDOWN BOOM
Video gaming in the UK was boosted by the arrival of a “new console generation” last year as the market surged to a record £7billion.
Players pushed the sector’s value up 29.9% compared to 2019 with increases across both digital and physical sales, according to a report by gaming industry body Ukie.
Digital sales took the lion’s share totalling £3.90 billion, with digital console revenues rising 24.2%, mobile games up by 21.3% and digital PC adding 14.8%.
Despite store closures as the UK went in and out of lockdown, traditional boxed game titles also climbed by 7.1% to £646 million, but pre-owned game-buying took a hit, diving 22.8% compared to the year before.
Gaming hardware raked in £2.26 billion, thanks partly to new launches of the PlayStation 5 and Xbox Series X, with console hardware alone making up £853 million of that figure, up 74.8%
