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UK game sales down 17% in 2012, digital crosses £1 billion for first time
The UK's Entertainment Retailers' Association has released its final report for 2012, and video game sales in that country are down more than 17 percent. Total entertainment sales, including music and movie sales, are down by about 12 percent. The culprit seems to be physical sales, with video game shares of that category dropping from 73 percent to 65.4 percent, and physical sales overall dropping by about 5 percent.ERA Director General Kim Bayley actually cited the drops as a success for physical media, in that "despite digital's seemingly inexorable growth, the CD, the DVD and the physical games disc show incredible resilience." Bayley added that despite the shrinking numbers, "physical formats still account for three quarters of the entertainment market."On the digital side, sales crossed a record of £1 billion for the first time ever. Digital video game sales rose by 7.7 percent, just slightly less than the overall growth trend in digital. For now, however, digital growth isn't enough to keep the industry at large growing. The ERA says the lack of growth was largely due to a "dearth of attractive releases" last summer, and the organization hopes to "offer the public a much better release slate in 2013."
Online sales will dominate the market by 2013
If you purchase your video games from a brick and mortar retailer, chances are you will be in the minority in just a couple of years. GamesIndustry.biz cites a new report that predicts online game sales will become the dominant force in the market by 2013 through individual websites, retailers like Amazon.com, and video game distributors like Steam. A DFC Intelligence analyst noted that boxed game sales already peaked in 2008, and that as physical game sales slowly decline, online sales will pick up at a marked pace. DFC is a research and consulting firm that covers the field of video games. Last year, online game retailers sold over $19.3 billion worth of digital merchandise -- a figure that's expected to rise to $37.9 billion by 2016. While real-world stores have much to worry about as the market shifts in the direction of online sales, the industry as a whole is expected to continue to substantially increase its growth over the next half-decade. One of the "key drivers" for that growth is PC games. The analysts also predicted that in-game advertising will increase two-fold in the next few years as advertisers realize the potential for this blossoming market.
