Study: British Video Game Statistic Shocker — They’re Now Almost Double Movie Profits

Data firm GFK Chart-Track performed a study for the Daily Telegraph, finding that in the 12 month period between September 2008 and September 2009, movies grossed about a billion pounds in the UK.

During the same time period, video game sales totaled about 1.75 billion pounds. TV and music, with their associated fees, hardware and media costs, remain bigger still. But for video games to knock off the lead of a mainstream entertainment venue (one that is about 100 years old, BTW) is a significant accomplishment, especially when it’s by such a large margin.

The number of gaming consoles in British households has increased from 13.5 million units in 2008, to about 25 million in early 2009, or enough for one console to be in nine out of 10 households (though obviously many households simply have one of each of the big three consoles).

This is another feather in Britain’s video game cap. I noted in 2008 that Rob Fahey indicated Game Group (the UK’s equivalent to GameStop) had grown to three times the market cap of Britain’s largest construction firm.

The data have certainly generated discussion in Britain, offering ammo for video game defenders such as Tom Watson, a former Cabinet Office minister: “The industry has matured over the last decade, and so too have gamers.”

Via Blast Magazine & Game Politics

References:
Wallop, H. (2009, December 26). Video games bigger than film. Daily Telegraph. [Online.] Retrieved January 4, 2009 from http://www.telegraph.co.uk/technology/video-games/6852383/Video-games-bigger-than-film.html

Resistance is Futile … All Will Become Gamers

Here’s a nice article from Rob Fahey, former editor of GamesIndustry.biz, over at Times Online. Fahey makes several interesting points, including many factoids that would fit nicely in research articles on videogames.

- Nintendo is now the second most valuable company (by market cap) in Japan, after Toyota

- Consequently, the market believes the industry as a whole has enormous growth potential

- Game Group is Britain’s largest videogame retailer. Profits for the first half of 2008 will top £33 million, beating analyst estimates by 33%

- Consequently, Game Group’s market cap now tops the country’s largest construction firm by three times

- The current focus on all age groups by videogame companies is the natural outcome of marketing efforts beginning in the 1990s, when Sony began branching out from children’s television advertisements for the PlayStation to nightclubs

- The market for videogames continues to expand into all segments of the population, from teenage boys to older men; to girls and women; to senior citizens; to families as a whole

- The advanced graphics and capabilities of videogames have created a dynamic platform for storytelling that rivals moviemaking in scope

Finally, Fahey sums up with this statement, showing that eventually gaming will engulf everyone:

As video games continue to break new creative and commercial ground, the conclusion the markets have reached is simple – and inevitable. Being a stranger to interactive entertainment will be seen as eccentric as watching TV on a black and white set. Soon, we will all be gamers.

References:
Fahey, R. (2008, July 7). It’s inevitable: Soon we will all be gamers. The Times. [Online]. Retrieved July 6, 2008 from http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/comment/columnists/
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