Game sales surpassed video in UK, says report

[mickey megabyte]

(the word 'video' here includes DVD and BluRay)

Sales of computer games in the UK have surpassed those of videos for the first time, new figures suggest.

The Entertainment Retailers Association (ERA) said sales of £1.93bn in 2011 made the gaming industry the country's biggest entertainment sector.

By contrast, sales of DVDs and other video formats totalled £1.80bn, while music pulled in £1.07bn.

read on...

 

[M1GU31]

not suprised since most movies aren't good and pretty good games came out last year and this year. And they say pc gaming is dead

 

[mickey megabyte]

it doesn't say how much of it is from PC games.

i would be very interested to see how much was PC and how much was console.

hmm, just found this, but i'm always a bit wary of infographics...:huh:

 

[M1GU31]

very interesting article micky, I hope more come to pc as the experince in my oppion is more satisfying then console for me. Also suprised at what the second article said that star craft 2 sold more then the best selling game on consoles. Anyways you might spend more at first but it's well worth it and with all the steam sales. Also that if you say buy a xbox you end up spending more often because of all the subscriptions. Now for any one reading this don't think i'm hating on xbox since I also play it for exclusives.

 

[mickey megabyte]

i've never had a console, and i've been gaming for thirty years since my ZX spectrum days (and many 'misspent' hours in seedy arcades playing space invaders, defender etc etc).

there is absolutely no doubt that PC hardware can beat the sh*t out of any other platform. it's a crying shame that the vast majority of developers code for the lowest common denominator, but that's another thread altogether...long live modding!

 

[M1GU31]

modding is another reseaon i switched to pc gaming since it's so aswome like modding the graphics like in gta san andreas which is a lower poly 2005 game into this Way better then playing the old gta san andreas on a ps2

 

[armyslowrdr]

I'm not sure I've played a game since pinball---oh maybe pacman and asteroids once or twice. Does an online crossword puzzle or chess count ? lol

 

[smarteyeball]

Does an online crossword puzzle or chess count ? lol

You'd be termed a 'casual gamer'




I've been pushing coloured blocks/sprites/polygons around a screen since the early days too - but I still can't stand the term 'gamer'.


I'm not surprised that game revenue is coming out on top though.

 

[burtie]

That's interesting especially when one of our main stores 'Game' has gone into administration and have been closing up some shops.

 

[FuturDreamz]

That does raise some questions...

What's the availability of new releases in the UK vs other countries (videos AND movies)?
What's the availability of video rental locations in the UK?
Does that number include in-game purchases?

 

[jimbo45]

Hi there
it's almost IMPOSSIBLE for physical retailers to survive in this type of market.

Software in particular is totally suited to Internet sales -- immediate delivery -- no hassle inside the store and no endless lines waiting to pay on a Sat. Afternoon when people are lining up almost into the street while there is only ONE cash till working -at least that was my experience in Manchester UK recently -- strange when the UK has a stubbornly high unemployment rate --not the only EU Country BTW -- shopping in Paris is a Nightmare at ANY TIME FOR ANYTHING not just software -- although more shop assistants seemed to speak English in Paris than Manchester !!!!).

The profit margin on these games is not very large if you have to support a physical retail presence in an expensive area.

Similarly DVD / CD retailers are suffering too -- HMV for example isn't long for this world in its present set up --it's destined very shortly to join others in that "Great corporation in the Sky".

COMET is another one that's in process of being broken up -- the chain was sold to a venture capitalist for I believe 20 pence (UK) -- about 25 - 30 Eurocents (0.25 / 0.3 EUR). !!!

Cheers

jimbo