It has been revealed that UK consumers are expected to spend in the region of £4.6 billion on video games in 2008, which is an increase of 42%, and "only" £4.46 billion on music and video sales. While this will come as a surprise to many, the move towards games consoles and video games over the last decade has been enormous.
Games such as Grand Theft Auto IV and FIFA 08 together with the massive success of the Nintendo Wii has seen the more traditional CD and video market come under extreme pressure. There has also been massive pricing pressure in all UK entertainment markets which has seen many games and consoles now falling within the budget of the majority of the UK population.
While some retailers are complaining that the figures are misleading because they also include hardware sales, there is no doubt that the trend towards the games console market has been ongoing sometime. Whether music piracy has played any part in the shift in sales remains to be seen but this is also a growing market as well and one which the authorities are struggling to contain. It will be interesting to see how sales have progressed in 2009 with high ticket items such as games consoles possibly under more pressure. |
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