UK spending on video video games plummeted by 29.4 % in the course of the first half of this yr, whereas music and video gross sales grew.
Bodily sport gross sales fell by 40 % to £111.7m in comparison with the primary six months of 2023, whereas digital obtain gross sales fell 23 % to £236.9m.
The numbers, reported by the Digital Leisure and Retail Affiliation (ERA), mirror a “delicate new launch schedule”, in response to its newest report.
“It was a troublesome first half for the video games enterprise with a scarcity of heavy-hitting releases, however we’re optimistic for a robust second half, the normal time for blockbuster releases,” ERA boss Kim Bayley stated.
The primary half of 2023 notably included the launch of The Legend of Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom for Nintendo Swap. Examine that to the primary six months of this yr, and there is nothing of fairly the identical scale. Remaining Fantasy 7: Rebirth for PlayStation 5 was maybe probably the most notable launch, although gross sales have not matched its predecessor.
As Bayley notes, nevertheless, a slew of 2024 blockbusters are on the horizon – together with Star Wars Outlaws in August, EA Sports activities FC 25 and The Legend of Zelda: Echoes of Knowledge in September, Name of Obligation: Black Ops 6 and Murderer’s Creed Shadows in October, plus Dragon Age: The Veilguard.
UK spending on each music (together with vinyl, CD and downloads) and video (together with DVD, Blu-Ray, digital) each grew over the identical interval.
Music gross sales grew by 7.9 %, pushed by Report Retailer Day and the launch of latest Taylor Swift breakup album The Tortured Poets Division, together with its lead single Fortnight (nothing to do with Fortnite).
Video gross sales additionally grew, regardless of declining gross sales for bodily media (that sounds acquainted!). A drop in DVD and Blu-ray spending was offset by progress in video downloads and digital gross sales – which doesn’t embody cash spent on streaming subscriptions to Netflix, Amazon or Disney+.
Nonetheless, regardless of video video games’ sizable 29.4 % drop in gross sales year-on-year, the sector remained far bigger than both music or video general. Whole spending on video video games from January to June 2024 stood at £348.6m, in comparison with £213.7m for video and £163.8m for music.
