UK platforms used to acquire digital video games 2022

According to March to May 2022 survey data, 47 percent of responding UK gamers had downloaded video games for free via app stores, digital PC game storefronts like Steam or Origin, or digital console gaming stores in the past three months. Individual game purchases were ranked second with a 45 percent usage rate among survey respondents.

Leading services used to download or stream video games in the United Kingdom (UK) in 2022

Characteristic	Share of respondents
Downloading video games for free through Apple App Store, Google Play, PlayStation or Xbox Store, Origin etc.	47%
Paying a single fee to download individual video games through services such as the Apple App Store, Google Play, PlayStation or Xbox Store	45%
A video game streaming service such as PlayStation Now or Google Stadia	19%
Social media services such as Facebook, Twitter, Instagram or Snapchat	11%
Paying to access games through a subscription service (PlayStation Plus, Apple Arcade)	10%
BitTorrent or another file-sharing or P2P service where links todownload files are typically available on sites	6%
Download for free from the internet, without really being sure where it comes from	5%
A file hosting web site or cyberlocker	5%
Receiving a link to download video games made available by someone else (e.g. via social media or a forum)	4%
Downloading mod versions of mobile games for free	3%
Receiving the file(s) directly from someone else	3%
Paying a small fee to access one or many games through a shared/unknown account	2%
Other	6%

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Release date

February 2023

More information

Region

United Kingdom

Survey time period

April 7 to May 31, 2022

Number of respondents

1,355 respondents

Age group

12 years and older

Special properties

downloaded/streamed video games during the past 3 months

Supplementary notes

Original question: Which of the following have you used to download or stream video games in the past three months?
This statistic using original data from the Government Digital Service and includes copyright material licensed under © Crown, the Open Government License v3.0

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