The UK games market grew 12.4 percent in 2017 to £5.11 billion, thanks in part to the incredible success of the Nintendo Switch.
The introduction of Nintendo's new console saw hardware sales jump 29.9 percent. Sales of physical software rose 3.1 percent, but the pre-owned market fell by 15.1 percent, a possible consequence of players holding onto their games for longer thanks to support from by online play and DLC. Digital sales rose 13.4 percent to £1.6bn.
GfK’s Dorian Bloch said:
These UK figures reveal a solid performance for the physical software market, boosted by a return to growth in the overall console hardware market for the first time since 2014. With Sony’s PS4 showing four consecutive years of over 1m units sold per year, a strong performance from Microsoft’s sub £200 Xbox One S and premium core gamer Xbox One X, plus the introduction of Nintendo’s Switch enjoying the best start for a Nintendo home console since the mighty Wii back in 2006, it is clear that the console gaming market is now enjoying a renaissance.
Hopefully this positive trend can continue in 2018.
[source mcvuk.com]
Comments 15
Digital sales(<25%) are still a long way behind physical sales(>75%). Long may that continue. I'm sure digital sales would be even lower if a physical option was available which isn't always the case.
Nintendo Switch is saving the World`s economy!
But the UK hates Nintendo right? Bla Bla Bla
I hope that this continues. Almost all of my friends bash the Switch for being a Nintendo platform, despite the fact that they have no reasons for why they dislike it. Just UK Nintendo bias I suppose...
@Marios-love-child Just think how much it could have grown if the UK didn't hate Nintendo
Well let's hope 2018 is even better than 2017!!
The UK doesn’t hate Nintendo. They just don’t like it as much as the PS and Xbox brand at the moment.
If Nintendo give them what they want the UK will buy the product. They didn’t want the WiiU. Then again, no one, not even Japan wanted the WiiU.
@Hotfusion If so many years were worth a moment you'd be right. The UK has always been Nintendo's worst market for a very long time. As for Japan not wanting the Wii U, Japan bought 3 million of them and it was around 3-4 years until PS4 overtook the Wii U's sales over there. Japan always seems like the opposite of the world XD
@SLIGEACH_EIRE Digital Sales help Nintendo and developers - More money means better Game development for all. It improves our GamingLife.
UK gamers need a LOVE from Nintendo.
They will feel so Lovely with Nintendo Switch.
Oh, i will help them with this.
Considering its age, the PS4 is doing extremely well everywhere. I've just got one, and its awesome. I'm only missing Mario Odyssey from the Switch at the moment. That will change though when Yoshi and Prime 4 come out, assuming Prime 4 is nothing like Prime 3!
Well, pretty much the PS4 doing all the heavy lifting
http://metro.co.uk/2017/12/20/half-video-game-sales-uk-ps4-7175344/
They finally got a bit of help. Good for everyone - the industry should not be a 1 horse race in the UK.
@SLIGEACH_EIRE
No one has ever claimed that digital sales has surpassed physical sales, at least for the overall market. What people have claimed is that digital sales are not insignificant, and having digital sales data is important when analyzing the entire gaming market.
But there must be some mistake, everyone on NL keeps telling me how much the UK hates Nintendo...
^ It kind of appears that is true.
Top 10 Games (Packaged and Digital Sales)
01. FIFA 18 (ELECTRONIC ARTS) – 2,696,721
02. CALL OF DUTY: WWII (ACTIVISION BLIZZARD) – 2,442,416
03. GRAND THEFT AUTO V (TAKE 2) – 1,080,022
04. ASSASSIN’S CREED ORIGINS (UBISOFT) – 679,965
05. DESTINY 2 (ACTIVISION BLIZZARD) – 673,551
06. STAR WARS BATTLEFRONT II (ELECTRONIC ARTS) – 658,814
07. CRASH BANDICOOT N.SANE TRILOGY (ACTIVISION BLIZZARD) – 651,354
08. TOM CLANCY’S GHOST RECON: WILDLANDS (UBISOFT) – 574,889
09. GRAN TURISMO: SPORT (SONY COMPUTER ENT.) – 484,833
10. HORIZON ZERO DAWN (SONY COMPUTER ENT.) – 456,374
https://eraltd.org/news-events/press-releases/2018/streaming-boom-helps-entertainment-outstrip-the-printed-word/
Above is a list of the top selling games in the UK during 2017. Not a single Nintendo game in the Top 10. And the watered down FIFA 18 is the only 3rd party game of the 10 that's on Switch.
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