UK Video Game Market Value Fell in 2022 - News
by William D'Angelo , posted on 04 April 2023 / 3,831 Views
The value of the total video game market in the UK fell 5.6 percent year-on-year in 2022 to £7.05 billion, according to data from trade body UKIE and reported by GamesIndustry. 2021 was the peak year for the total market value at £7.47 billion.
In 2022, £4.57 billion (+0.44%) was spent on software, while £2.16 billion (-19%) was spent on hardware.
The amount of money spent on digital PC software and mobile software increased year-on-year, while digital console software, boxed games, and pre-owned all saw a decline.
As far as hardware there was a drop across the board with console hardware dropping the most at 27 percent. VR hardware saw the smallest decline with revenue down 6.6 percent.
As reported back in January, the Nintendo Switch was the best-selling console in the UK in 2022, with sales down 27.5 percent year-on-year. The PlayStation 5 came in second place with sales down nearly 33 percent, while the Xbox Series X|S came in third place with sales down nearly 15 percent.
FIFA 23 was the best-selling game in the UK in 2022 and sales were up four percent compared to FIFA 22. Call of Duty: Modern Warfare II was the second best-selling game with sales up 67 percent compared to 2021's Call of Duty: Vanguard.
The combined sales of Pokémon Scarlet and Violet were 36 percent higher than 2021's Pokémon Brilliant Diamond and Shining Pearl. Pokémon Violet debuted in 14th place and Pokémon Scarlet debuted in 17th place.
LEGO Star Wars: The Skywalker Saga came in third place, followed by Elden Ring in fourth place and Grand Theft Auto V in fifth place. God of War: Ragnarök debuted in sixth place.
Here are the numbers:
- Total UK games market value: £7.05 billion (down 5.6% year-on-year)
Software
- Total software spending: £4.57 billion (up 0.44%)
- Digital console: £1.98 billion (down 4.7%)
- Digital PC: £660 million (up 2.2%)
- Boxed games (PC & Console): £489 million (down 4.3%)
- Pre-owned: £21.3 million (down 37%)
- Mobile: £1.43 billion (up 11%)
Hardware
- Total hardware spending: £2.16 billion (down 19%)
- Console hardware: £823 million (down 27%)
- PC game hardware: £760 million (down 14%)
- Console game accessories: £396 million (down 16%)
- VR hardware: £171 million (down 6.6%)
Game Culture
- Total culture spending: £316 million (up 27%)
- Toys and merchandising: £196 million (up 7.7%)
- Books and magazines: £13.9 million (up 17%)
- Film, TV and soundtracks: £64.8 million
- Events and venues: £4.35 million
- Steaming and game video content: £47.4 million (down 4.8%)
A life-long and avid gamer, William D'Angelo was first introduced to VGChartz in 2007. After years of supporting the site, he was brought on in 2010 as a junior analyst, working his way up to lead analyst in 2012 and taking over the hardware estimates in 2017. He has expanded his involvement in the gaming community by producing content on his own YouTube channel and Twitch channel. You can contact the author on Twitter @TrunksWD.
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Seems stock was restrained a lot during the year.
I'm surprised at digital sales going down for consoles, in a year of releases like Elden Ring, GoW and alike but books and magazines going up, that's nice, especially for that industry.
If hardware goes down 30 % then digital sales go down as well.
