Video Game Sales in UK Down Nearly 30% in First Half of 2024

In the first half of 2024, video game sales in the UK fell sharply, by almost 30 per cent. Sales of physical games were particularly hard hit, falling by 40 per cent. The reason for this is a weak "new release schedule".

The UK's digital entertainment and retail association, the ERA, has published its UK market data for the first half of the year, and the results are pretty clear. Overall, video game sales fell by almost 30 per cent year-on-year to £348.6 million, or around €414.7 million. The sharp decline is attributed to a "reflection of a soft new release schedule". Sales of physical games software were particularly hard hit, falling by 40 per cent to £111.7 million. Digital downloads fell by 23 per cent to £236.9 million. ERA CEO Kim Bayley said: "It was a tough first half for the games business with a lack of heavy-hitting releases, but we are optimistic for a strong second half, the traditional time for blockbuster releases." No further details were given by the association.

In spite of the sharp decline, sales in the video games sector are still well ahead of the video and music segments, which are growing at single digit rates. The value of UK music sales (combining vinyl, CDs and Downloads, but excluding music streaming) grew by 7.9 per cent to £163.8m. "Value figures for music streaming are not available, but streaming volume - the number of streams accessed was up 11%" ERA writes. Video sales grew by 5.4 per cent to £213.7.2m. A decline in DVD and Blu-ray sales (-4.7 per cent) was offset by growth in video downloads and digital rentals (11 per cent), but these figures do not include video streaming services.

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