NEWS: UK Games market worth £4.3bn

UK games market reaches £4.3bn

Games trade body Ukie reports that the value of the UK consumer games market reached a record £4.33bn in 2016, up +1.2% from 2015 figures.

The result shows positive growth for the games and interactive entertainment economy, including an +11.1 per cent increase in digital console and PC games sales and an impressive +16.9 per cent rise in UK mobile games revenue - now worth £995m. 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, included in the market valuation for the first time and valued at £61.3m. The impact of VR was also seen in the sale of top-end graphics cards, driving a huge increase in PC game hardware of +64 per cent to £258m.  

UK games events have also seen a strong increase. 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.

As the current generation of the console cycle matures, there was an expected reduction in sales of new hardware, down to £507.5m.

Dr Jo Twist OBE, CEO of Ukie, said:

“Our sector is constantly innovating and investing in new experiences, technologies and talent, resulting in the strong and resilient games industry shown in this £4.33bn market valuation.

"These statistics will go a long way to reinforcing the message that the UK continues to be a world leading games market, remaining strong in the face of an uncertain political climate. Ukie will continue to use these stats to promote the strength of our sector nationally and worldwide to investors, the media, policy makers and more, to prove that the UK is the best place to make and sell games."

Data was collated to build the total Market Valuation using trusted industry data sources including Superdata, GfK, Kantar Worldpanel, Nielsen, NPD, ABC, The Official Charts Company and Ukie.

Further data breakdown here.