ERA figures show games market exceeding £4 billion for the first time

By January 12, 2021 Press Releases

New Entertainment Retailers Association (ERA) figures show that for the first time the UK games market has exceeded £4 billion in revenue.

In 2020, the games market increased by 14.5 per cent with a total revenue of over £4.2 billion.  Additionally, 80 percent of entertainment spending went on digital services, rather than physical formats.  The digital games market, which includes mobile, streamed games and downloads, grew by 16.3 per cent to £3.6 billion. The biggest selling title was FIFA 21, with over two million units sold.

Below there is a breakdown of UK consumer spending on entertainment in 2020 and a breakdown of the best-selling games of 2020.

UK consumer spending on entertainment 2020 – preliminary figures (£m)[1]
    2019 2020 % change
Music

 

 

 

 

Physical £318.1 £271.6 -14.6%
Downloads £89.7 £72.2 -19.5%
Streaming £1,045.8 £1,208.2 15.5%
Total Music £1,453.7 £1,552.0 6.8%
       
Video

 

 

 

 

Physical Retail £477.2 £355.7 -25.5%
Physical Rental £23.4 £16.9 -27.6%
Digital £2,110.0 £2,906.4 37.7%
Total Video £2,610.6 £3,279.1 25.6%
       
Games

 

 

 

Physical £572.3 £598.5 4.6%
Digital £3,115.4 £3,622.2 16.3%
Total Games £3,687.7 £4,220.7 14.5%
       
Total Entertainment Physical £1,391.0 £1,242.7 -10.7%
Digital (inc streaming) £6,360.9 £7,809.0 22.8%
Total Entertainment £7,751.9 £9,051.8 16.8%

 

Best-selling Games 2020[2]
Chart Position Title Total Unit Sales
1 FIFA 21 2,182,694
2 Call Of Duty: Black Ops Cold War 1,420,353
3 Grand Theft Auto V 1,127,222
4 FIFA 20 903,810
5 Call Of Duty: Modern Warfare 897,350
6 Animal Crossing: New Horizons* 810,462
7 Assassin’s Creed Valhalla 665,815
8 The Last Of Us Part II 539,247
9 NBA 2K20 481,507
10 Tom Clancy’s Rainbow Six Siege 436,957

 

[1] ERA, Lockdown streaming drives entertainment sales to £9bn, 8 January 2021, link

[2] ERA, Lockdown streaming drives entertainment sales to £9bn, 8 January 2021, link

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