Covid pushes UK video games market to record £7bn – but games sales fall

Gamers stocked up on hardware such as consoles and virtual reality gear, offsetting a fall in game sales

The UK video games market hit a new record of 7.16bn last year as the pandemic continued to fuel an unprecedented boom in home entertainment, with gamers rushing to stock up on new consoles and virtual reality kit even as overall sales of games fell.

Lockdown conditions have made gaming one of the biggest pandemic winners with the value of the UK market now a third higher than in 2019 before the coronavirus crisis hit and worth more than the music and video streaming markets combined.