The ERA, which is the UK trade body for film, music and video game retail, said that the UK gaming market has risen to £3.6bn, making up 51.3 per cent of the of the entertainment market’s all-time high revenues of £7.5bn.

Now being double what it was back in 2007, for the first time, gaming is a larger market than film and music combined, according to the ERA.

“The games industry has been incredibly effective in taking advantage of the potential of digital technology to offer new and compelling forms of entertainment,” said ERA chief executive Kim Bayley. “Despite being the youngest of our three sectors, it is now by far the biggest.”

ERA’s report said despite physical unit sales shrinking by about 2.8 per cent in 2018 and digital growth categorised as a “modest” 12.5 per cent, the industry now accounts for 51.3 per cent of the total entertainment market.

Figures also showed three games – Fifa ’19, Red Dead Redemption 2 and Call of Duty: Black Ops 4 – each sold more than one million physical units in the UK across game consoles throughout the course of 2018.

The report, however, did not consider digital game sales as well as mobile and free games downloaded and played, the most notable of which is the free-to-play battle royale game Fortnite, which now has more than 200 million players globally.

According to analysts Newzoo, the global gaming market is estimated at £110bn and is forecast to grow to £180bn by 2022, with the UK gaming market ranked 5th in the world, behind China, the US, Japan, South Korea and Germany.

The ERA said that the record high for the UK entertainment industry was driven by the success of digital and streaming services such as Spotify and Netflix, which accounts for more than three-quarters (76.1 per cent) of total sales.

The ERA, which is the UK trade body for film, music and video game retail, said that the UK gaming market has risen to £3.6bn, making up 51.3 per cent of the of the entertainment market’s all-time high revenues of £7.5bn.

Now being double what it was back in 2007, for the first time, gaming is a larger market than film and music combined, according to the ERA.

“The games industry has been incredibly effective in taking advantage of the potential of digital technology to offer new and compelling forms of entertainment,” said ERA chief executive Kim Bayley. “Despite being the youngest of our three sectors, it is now by far the biggest.”

ERA’s report said despite physical unit sales shrinking by about 2.8 per cent in 2018 and digital growth categorised as a “modest” 12.5 per cent, the industry now accounts for 51.3 per cent of the total entertainment market.

Figures also showed three games – Fifa ’19, Red Dead Redemption 2 and Call of Duty: Black Ops 4 – each sold more than one million physical units in the UK across game consoles throughout the course of 2018.

The report, however, did not consider digital game sales as well as mobile and free games downloaded and played, the most notable of which is the free-to-play battle royale game Fortnite, which now has more than 200 million players globally.

According to analysts Newzoo, the global gaming market is estimated at £110bn and is forecast to grow to £180bn by 2022, with the UK gaming market ranked 5th in the world, behind China, the US, Japan, South Korea and Germany.

The ERA said that the record high for the UK entertainment industry was driven by the success of digital and streaming services such as Spotify and Netflix, which accounts for more than three-quarters (76.1 per cent) of total sales.