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Joystiq

UK retail game sales surpass music industry

by Alexander Sliwinski on Mar 3rd 2008 10:00PM

The UK's Entertainment Retailers' Association's latest figures show video game sales have surpassed music at retail and are quickly catching up to DVD revenues. The organization states music sales are still important, but value has diminished as game sales go on a rampage. MCV posts that game sales went from £1.3 billion in 2005 to £1.7 billion in sales last year; meanwhile, music sales went from £1.8 billion to £1.4 billion in the same time and continue trending downward.

The video and DVD market is stagnant in the UK and maintained £2.1 billion in sales for the last three years. The current data shows that at the game industry's current rate of growth it'll surpass movies at retail in the near future. Just to be clear, these are strictly ERA-tracked retail numbers and do not take into account online sales through systems like iTunes or Xbox Live.

[Via GameDaily]

Source

Tags: mcv, retail, sales, uk

Reader Comments (28)

And yet they STILL won't make them cheaper

I haven't been able to justify the prices of Bluray or HD-DVDs for myself....I'm rental-only for movies not in the theaters...and with the cost of videogames I'll probably switch to rental-only for those at some point, too.

I've already spent at least $3000 for my PSWii60, including the systems, extra controllers, and games...and that's only for THIS generation of games...

and if they're making money with those prices, why would they make them any cheaper? I wouldn't lower the price of something I'm selling if people still buy it like crazy. Now, if we could hold off on impulse buys, and midnight release purchases and wait for the price to drop before buying games, then maybe companies will realize that we prefer a lower price to begin with...

Both Blu Ray and HD DVD added to the experience... at lest if you had a HDTV. The HDTV market is growing and will continue to grow til 3d holographic becomes consumer affordable..... 5-9 years down the line. Just in time for the PS4.

I gotta say, HDTV makes the difference.
I accidently knocked the 360 onto SD and it was blurry as hell!
Long live High Definition!

I just got a Sony Brava this week and I must say, the difference is staggering. I'm never going back to SD, which I was more then happy with before. I'm still not going to get a PS3 until they get more games for the damn thing tho.

hrmmm.....
price of new videogame: $50-$60
price of new DVD: $20-$30
price of new CD: $12-20

which one do you think makes more sales money?? and as it already states, it didn't include music downloads or extra downloadable content for xbl, which as we know is quite a lot for both!!

but this was almost as obvious as the study that men enjoy videogames....

And the increase from '05 to '07 is hardly that surprising either when you consider the RRP of a new PS2/Xbox game was £35-£40, while the PS3/Xbox360 games are £40-£45.

n.b. I know brand new games can be bought for a lot less than £45, but that is the starting price point.

Well sorta.

Wii and PSP games are still £30-40, and a few old 360/PS3 games. It's just them 2 systems bumping the prices up. PC prices seem to have gone madder - brand new AAA games go for £20-50.

Meh we're a mad market.

I still dont get why I can't put my game in my computer and put the soundtrack on iTunes....

I can dream can't I?

Come on, guys! Don't pick on the music industry! Don't you feel a bit of pityseeing them run upstairs, "Full House" style?

Why should this article surprise anyone, video games are the one true medium, no other can compare to its glory.

Well duh! it makes sense since pirating music is so easy.It'll catch up to movie sales too since ppl can dl that for free too.If VG downloading was as easy as downloading music and movies it wouldn't be on top.

Good point.

No open standard (non-DRM) system will allow making extra money for the producers because they will always be ripped.

iTunes/iPod, the game systems and now Brue Lay are all high-DRM systems, so they will get producers attention and command high sales (which are partially monopoly rents).

Has anyone cracked the BD DRM?

well what did the UK music industry expect if all they have is that lunatic Amy Winehouse and crap like Lilly Allen

@Mickey What about coldplay? and other artists? Also what about American music? this is happening because of illegal downloading, that's why the video gaming market caught up.It'll catch up to movies soon enough as internet speeds pick up.

And a lot of American music is pretty bad too....

Soulja Boy anyone?

Go into any HMV and you'll find plenty of good music. Don't think that those shitty titles on display on Tesco are the only titles available.

Anyway, all the best music comes from Sweden and Finland.

While the UK scene is shit, reams of generic R&B shit is like, SOOoooo much better isn't it?

The understand the illegal downloading has been here quite a while and increasing. Nothing against UK music pretty dedicated The Who fan. I'm just saying its not helping when the recent chart toppers on the UK lists are crap.

Well ya,but illegal downloading is still illegal even though certain artists are terrible.There's plenty of talented U.K. artists,but ppl keep illegally download their music that's why gaming is surpassing the music.Gaming will soon surpass movies too because ppl will slowly start to illegal download more and more.

It's not illegal downloads, Video Games are just better then music or movies. The lead designer of Assassin's Creed put it best games are a dialog and music and film are monologs. End of story!!!

You are delusional, or you have been watching really shit movies. Play through Assassin's Creed and then go watch Apocalypse Now and tell me which is the greater work of art.

Assassin's Creed hands down. Film can't hold a candle to the brilliance of gaming nor can the written word.

Kujel, the VG Apostle!

Damn straight.

Ok, now you're taking the piss...

While the old arguments of "all new music is shit" and "pirating is easy," you all seem to be forgetting that gaming now starting to mature as a medium. Most of those geeks that played in the 80's and 90's never stopped playing (only not as much), but now have an income. The new generation find it a lot easier to get games too. When I was a kid, the only place that sold video games in town was this seedy little dump next to a derelict block of flats. Now you can get them in Blockbuster or Woolies or Tesco, and they now have the bonus of selling games that don't stink of nicotine!

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UK retail game sales surpass music industry

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