Beautiful Virgin Islands

Tuesday, Jun 24, 2025

Lockdown boredom drives UK video games market to £7bn record high

Lockdown boredom drives UK video games market to £7bn record high

Gaming fans joined by million of newbies in 2020 resulting in £1.6bn more spent compared with 2019
The UK video games market hit a record £7bn last year as lockdown fuelled an unprecedented boom in the popularity of mobile games, consoles and virtual reality headsets.

The gaming industry has proved to be a coronavirus winner, with tens of millions of consumers looking for relief from indoor boredom. Gaming fans were joined by millions of newbies seeking out home entertainment, resulting in £1.6bn more being spent on games compared with 2019, an unprecedented 30% year-on-year increase.

“The figures confirm just how valuable games proved to people across the country during one of the toughest years of our lives,” said Dr Jo Twist, the chief executive of UK games industry body Ukie, which puts out the annual figures. “We all know how important entertainment, technology and creativity have been over the last year.”

The biggest year in UK gaming history was sparked by the serendipitous timing of the launch of Nintendo’s family-friendly phenomenon Animal Crossing: New Horizons on 20 March, as Boris Johnson informed the public that the nation was going into its first lockdown the following week.

The top seller during the first lockdown, outpacing hardcore gamer favourites such as Call of Duty, Animal Crossing helped fuel a 24% increase in digital game sales for consoles to £1.7bn last year. Total digital sales, including those for mobiles and PCs, climbed 21% to £3.9bn. Overall sales of games software, including “boxed” games, climbed to £4.55bn.

“During the initial Covid lockdown period, when many stores were closed and other entertainment sectors were affected, software sales for Nintendo Switch were up 215% year-on-year,” said Dorian Bloch, senior client director at GfK Entertainment.

Animal Crossing also underpinned a record 75% increase in spending on new consoles to £853m, as the public scrambled to get their hands on the latest home entertainment gaming systems. Last year, overall sales of Nintendo’s Switch outpaced those of the eagerly awaited new PlayStation and Xbox consoles, which hit the market in November.

In addition, the report said that the shift to home working fuelled a 70% increase in sales of PC games hardware to £823m, as consumers out of the eye of bosses sought to “purchase dedicated games computers to ensure home working set-ups could double as entertainment systems”. Total spend on all games hardware rose 61% to £2.26bn.

The lockdown also prompted consumers to experiment with newer technologies with sales of virtual reality hardware, such as headsets, climbing 29% to an all-time high of £129m.

However, it was not all good news for the video games sector as the coronavirus affected parts of the industry that rely on physical engagement.

Income from events plummeted 97% to just £249,000, and book and magazine revenue fell by more than a quarter to £10.5m. With cinemas shut for large parts of last year, revenue generated from game-related films and soundtracks fell by 22% to £23m.

The UK video games industry is the biggest in Europe, and the fifth biggest in the world, behind the gaming juggernauts Japan, South Korea, China and the US.
Newsletter

Related Articles

Beautiful Virgin Islands
0:00
0:00
Close
“You Have 12 Hours to Flee”: Israeli Threat Campaign Targets Surviving Iranian Officials
Macron and Merz: Europe must arm itself in an unstable world
Germany and Italy Under Pressure to Repatriate $245bn of Gold from US Vaults
Airlines Evaluate Flight Cancellations Amid Escalating US-Iran Tensions
Starmer Invites Innovators to Join Government Talent Scheme
UK Economy’s Strong Opening Quarter Shows Signs of Cooling
Harrods Seeks Court Order to Secure Al Fayed Estate for Victims
BA and Singapore Airlines Cancel Dubai Flights Amid Middle East Tensions
Trump Faces Backlash from MAGA Base Over Iran Strikes
Meta Bets $14 B on Alexandr Wang to Drive AI Ambitions
WATCH: Israeli forces show the aftermath of a massive airstrike at Iran's Isfahan nuclear site
FedEx Founder Fred Smith, ‘Heart and Soul’ of the Company, Dies at 80
Chinese Factories Shift Away from U.S. Amid Trump‑Era Tariffs
Pimco Seizes Opportunity in Japan’s Dislocated Bond Market
Labubu Doll Drives Pop Mart to Status as China’s Most Valuable Toy Maker
Global Coal Demand Defies Paris Accord Goals
We have new information and breaking details to share about what is shaping up to be a historic air campaign tonight
Six Massive Bombs Dropped on Fordow; Trump: 'A Historic Moment for the U.S., Israel, and the World'
Fordow: Deeply Buried Iranian Enrichment Site in U.S.–Israel Crosshairs
United States Conducts Precision Strikes on Iran’s Nuclear Sites
US strikes Iran nuclear sites, Trump says
Pakistan to nominate Trump for Nobel Peace Prize.
BBC Demands Perplexity AI Immediately Stop Using Its Content
Telegram Founder: I Will Leave My Fortune to Over 100 of My Children
Political Turmoil Resurfaces in Belgium Amid Economic Concerns
Fed policymakers divided on timing of interest rate cuts
Trump signals imminent agreement with Harvard University
Inheritance tax referendum alarms Swiss billionaire community
Japan cancels bilateral security meeting amid US defence demands
AI skeptic Emily Bender warns that ‘the emperor has no clothes’
Israel Confirms Assassination of Quds Force Commander in Tehran
16 Billion Login Credentials Leaked in Unprecedented Cybersecurity Breach
Senate hearing on who was 'really running' Biden White House kicks off
Iranian Military Officers Reportedly Seek Contact with Reza Pahlavi, Signal Intent to Defect
FBI and Senate Investigate Allegations of Chinese Plot to Influence the 2020 Election in Biden’s Favor Using Fake U.S. Driver’s Licenses
Vietnam Emerges as Luxury Yacht Destination for Ultra‑Rich
Plans to Sell Dutch Embassy in Bangkok Face Local Opposition
China's Iranian Oil Imports Face Disruption Amid Escalating Middle East Tensions
Trump's $5 Million 'Trump Card' Visa Program Draws Nearly 70,000 Applicants
DGCA Finds No Major Safety Concerns in Air India's Boeing 787 Fleet
Airlines Reroute Flights Amid Expanding Middle East Conflict Zones
Elon Musk's xAI Seeks $9.3 Billion in Funding Amid AI Expansion
Trump Demands Iran's Unconditional Surrender Amid Escalating Conflict
Israeli Airstrike Targets Iranian State TV in Central Tehran
President Trump is leaving the G7 summit early and has ordered the National Security Council to the Situation Room
Taiwan Imposes Export Ban on Chips to Huawei and SMIC
Israel has just announced plans to strike Tehran again, and in response, Trump has urged people to evacuate
Netanyahu Signals Potential Regime Change in Iran
Juncker Criticizes EU Inaction on Trump Tariffs
EU Proposes Ban on New Russian Gas Contracts
×