The UK video games market made a record-breaking £5.11 billion in 2017, regardless of a lower in general spending from thrifty Brits.
According to commerce physique UKIE, the UK video games market grew by 12.4% from 2016, despite the fact that general client spending and family earnings is down year-on-year, with PC {hardware} seeing the most important progress.
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UKIE introduced the determine at their annual video games market valuation occasion in London, with the commerce physique claiming the expansion of the UK video games sector is all the way down to “world-class content for an ever-expanding eager audience.”
According to GamesIndustry.biz, the most important space of progress was in PC {hardware}. The general gross sales of PC {hardware} have elevated by 51% from final yr, taking income from £249 million to £376 million. UKIE chalked this all the way down to the expansion of VR, with over £100 million spent on VR headsets final yr alone, making up nearly a 3rd of whole PC {hardware} gross sales. Steam Hardware figures estimate 0.28% of Steam customers at present personal both an Occulus Rift or HTC Vive headset.
The rise in PC {hardware} income was additionally attributed to the elevated variety of gamers utilizing 4K screens and general taking part in extra PC video games, whereas a smaller increase might have come from gamers shopping for larger high quality GPUs to mine cryptocurrency.
In addition to progress in PC {hardware} gross sales, console gross sales have been up 29.9% which has been credited to the profitable launch of the Nintendo Switch and continued success of PlayStation, which continued to promote multiple million items.
Meanwhile software program continues to account for almost all of gross sales income within the trade, growing by 8.3% from 2016 to make up £3.56 billion of general gross sales.
The progress of the UK video games trade is stunning as, in line with the BBC, UK wages have been “rising at a slower pace than inflation”, that means Brits have much less disposable earnings to spend in shops.
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