UK’s video gaming market at a glance
In 2022, the number of video game users in the UK saw a decline from the COVID-induced peak of 2021 and normalized to around 39.9 million gamers. With over 50 percent of the population embracing gaming as a form of fun, entertainment, or distraction, the UK’s video game market has come to be valued at 8.16 billion British pounds. Online and mobile games account for the largest share of consumer spending on video games in the UK, as users have gradually traded physical videogame formats for digital purchases. Thanks to rapid smartphone adoption throughout the UK and an ever-expanding selection of affordable gaming app content, mobile gaming engagement is now higher than ever.Hard facts and hardware trends
During the past decade, UK consumer spending on gaming console hardware visibly fluctuated in line with the rollout of new consoles. Retail revenue peaked at 1.13 billion British pounds in 2021, following the release of the next-generation Xbox Series X/S and PlayStation 5. In 2022, annual gaming console hardware sales amounted to 832 million British pounds. That year, approximately two million video game consoles were sold in the United Kingdom (UK). However, low stock caused console hardware sales in the UK to shrink 29 percent year-over-year, with the PlayStation 5 taking the biggest hit with a 33 percent decline.What are the most popular video games in the UK?
In 2022, video game software retail sales revenue in the UK amounted to 4.66 billion British pounds, with digital software sales accounting for the lion’s share of revenue. Unsurprisingly, FIFA 23 was the best-selling video game in the UK that year, with over 2.53 million copies sold. The FIFA games are a popular football video game series available for PC, Playstation, Xbox, and Nintendo, and although gaming behavior and demographics have visibly changed over the past few decades, the series has managed to maintain a spot on the UK’s leaderboard for many years.
