2021 UK Consumer Games Market Valuation
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The post below begins with a summary of 2021's figures as revised in 2023 with the original published figures discussed below. All graphics refer to figures as published in Apr 2022.
2021 Valuation - Revised Figures
The revised figures for 2021 saw the UK consumer games market valued at a new record of £7.47bn, up 6.2% on final figures for 2020. Video game software was valued at £4.55bn, with digital console software sales representing the largest portion at £2.07bn. Game hardware was valued at £2.66bn, unchanged from the original reporting in 2022. Game culture was valued at £249m. The complete 2021 valuation, including revised figures, is presented below
| Categories | Data Supplier | 2020 (£) | 2021 (£) | % Growth |
| Boxed software | GfK Entertainment | 646m | 511m | -21% |
| Digital console | Omdia | 1.74bn | 2.07bn | +19% |
| Digital PC | Omdia | 667m | 645m | -3.2% |
| Mobile games | Omdia | 1.46bn | 1.29bn | -12% |
| Pre-owned | Kantar | 42.6 | 33.8 | -21% |
| Game software total | 4.56bn | 4.55bn | -0.24% | |
| Console hardware | GfK Entertainment | 853m | 1.13bn | +33% |
| PC game hardware | GfK Entertainment | 832m | 881m | +5.9% |
| Console game accessories | GfK Entertainment | 453m | 464m | +2.4% |
| VR Hardware | GfK Entertainment | 129m | 183m | +42% |
| Game hardware total | 2.27bn | 2.66bn | +17% | |
| Toys and merchandising | NPD | 119m | 182m | +53% |
| Books and magazines | Nielsen, ABC, Ukie | 10.5m | 11.8m | +12% |
| Film, TV and soundtracks | BFI / OCC / Ukie | 22.9m | 3.98m | -83% |
| Events and venues | Ukie | 0.249m | 1.04m | -24.5% |
| Streaming and game video content | Ukie | 45.6m | 49.8m | +9.2% |
| Game culture total | 198m | 249m | +25% | |
| UK Games Market total | 7.03bn | 7.47bn | +6.2% |
The revised figures for 2021 saw a change in methodology for valuing digital console software sales, which has not been projected backwards to 2020 figures, so the year on year change for this figure is unlikely to represent actual change in consumer behaviour between 2020 and 2021.
2021 Valuation
The UK consumer games market reached a record figure of £7.16bn in 2021, growing by 1.90% from the previous record of £7bn recorded during the height of the COVID-19 pandemic in 2020. Game hardware sales grew by 17.4% year on year to reach £2.66bn, game software was valued at £4.28bn, a decline of 6.32% and spending on video game culture reached £226m, up 13.8% on 2020.
