Sales of video games in the UK have pipped those of videos (DVDs and Blu-Rays) for the first time, making the gaming industry the country’s biggest entertainment sector, according to new research.
The study, from the Entertainment Retailers Association (ERA, indicate that sales of £1.93bn in 2011.
By contrast, sales of DVDs and other video formats totalled £1.80bn, while music pulled in £1.07bn.
In the first 11 weeks of this year, the ERA said video sales were worth more than two times those of games.
By comparison over the whole of last year games accounted for 40.2% of the entertainment market, video for 37.6% and music for 22.2%.
Total sales in 2011 for games, video and music fell year-on-year by 3.3% to £4.80bn.
“This is a dramatic time for the entertainment market,” said Kim Bayley, director general of the ERA. “It is an historic development for the games sector to have overtaken video last year. Video has long been the biggest entertainment sector. Sales so far this year, however, suggest video is not going down without a fight.”
Source: http://www.eraltd.org/
