The gaming industry has won hordes of new customers during Covid lockdowns, and retailers are looking at ways of cashing in on the boom in player numbers and product sales.
As restaurants, shops and cinemas were forced to close their doors in the past year, “stay-at-home Britons spent a record amount on music, videos and gaming”, Sky News reports.
According to the Entertainment Retailers Association (ERA), spending in the sector increased by 18.3% in 2020 - the “highest recorded growth rate the UK market has ever seen”.
The ERA data revealed that the fastest growing digital sector last year was video, “where sales soared by 37.7% to £2.9bn, driven mainly by the growth of subscription services such as Netflix, Disney+ and Amazon Prime Video”, says Sky News.
However, gaming remains the biggest single sector, “accounting for 48% of aggregate sales, followed by video (35%) and music (17%)”.
Spending on gaming was up by 17.7% compared with 2019 and sales of video console games increased by 7.7% to £638.5m, driven by the launches of PlayStation 5 and Xbox Series.
ERA chief executive Kim Bayley said: “The entertainment market was already growing without coronavirus, but with much of the leisure sector shuttered due to lockdown, music, video and games were in the right place at the right time.”
Furniture just for gamers
The increase in at-home gaming has also contributed to the growth of esports as professional-level players, teams and tournaments continue to attract huge fanbases.
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