Table of Contents
Overview
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- What you need to know
- Products covered in this Report
Executive Summary
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- The market
- Declining market value will be boosted by next-generation consoles
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- Figure 1: Value of the UK video game and console market, 2013-18
- Figure 2: Forecast for the value of the UK video game and console market 2013-2023
- Software advertising dominates total spend
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- Figure 3: Total above-the-line, online display and direct mail advertising expenditure on video games and consoles, 2015-2017
- The consumer
- Nearly two thirds of 16-24s have a static console in the household
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- Figure 4: Static and portable console ownership, December 2013-June 2018
- Half of console owners have a PlayStation 4 and four in 10 have an Xbox One
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- Figure 5: Static console ownership, June 2018
- Nearly half of portable console owners have a Nintendo 3DS
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- Figure 6: Portable console ownership, June 2018
- Regular purchasers are favouring digital games
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- Figure 7: Purchase regularity, by format, June 2018
- Seven in 10 gamers stick to similar genres
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- Figure 8: Attitudes towards game buying, June 2018
- Three in 10 gamers have bought new titles due to online trailers
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- Figure 9: Important factors when buying new games, June 2018
- Frequency of gameplay is rising
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- Figure 10: Frequency of video game activity, June 2018
- Seven in 10 gamers play alone
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- Figure 11: Social gaming, June 2018
- Little intent to buy as people wait for next-generation consoles
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- Figure 12: Intention to buy consoles in the next year, June 2018
- Four in 10 gamers are interested in playing virtual reality games
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- Figure 13: Interest in virtual reality gaming, June 2018
- Seven in 10 gamers play on smartphones or tablets …
- … while six in 10 play on both consoles and laptops or desktops
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- Figure 14: Console and device behaviours, June 2018
- Most gamers still prefer the transparency of upfront payments
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- Figure 15: Video game behaviours, June 2018
- What we think
Issues and Insights
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- Can the current range of consoles keep driving the market?
- The facts
- The implications
- What are the key decisions for the next generation of consoles?
- The facts
- The implications
- How are gaming revenue streams changing?
- The facts
- The implications
The Market – What You Need to Know
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- Declining market value will be boosted by next-generation consoles
- Nintendo Switch popularity supports growth in 2017
- Competitive online play hitting game volume sales
- Growth in eSports driving live streams of top gamers
- Revenues are shifting towards in-game payments and season passes
Market Size and Forecast
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- Declining market value will be boosted by next-generation consoles
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- Figure 16: Value of the UK video game and console market, 2013-2018
- Figure 17: Forecast for the value of the UK video game and console market, 2013-23
- Nintendo Switch popularity supports growth in 2017
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- Figure 18: Volume of the UK games console market, 2013-18
- Figure 19: Share of volume sales of games consoles, by brand, 2016 and 2017
- PlayStation 5 and Xbox ‘Scarlett’ not expected for at least two years
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- Figure 20: Forecast for the value of the UK games console market, 2013-23
- Figure 21: Forecast for the volume of the UK games console market, 2013-23
- Competitive online play hitting volume game sales …
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- Figure 22: Volume of the UK video game software market, 2013-2018
- … while popularity of free titles has limited value growth
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- Figure 23: Forecast for the value of the UK video games software market, 2013-23
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- Figure 24: Forecast for the volume of the UK video games software market, 2013-23
- Forecast methodology
Market Drivers
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- Console market relying on existing consoles and retro gaming
- Consoles discounted in Amazon Prime Day sales
- Growth in eSports driving live streams of top gamers
- Franchises continue to drive game sales
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- Figure 25: Best-selling console games, 2017
- Revenues are shifting towards in-game payments and season passes
- The most popular games on Steam are free-to-play
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- Figure 26: Number of worldwide players on Steam, by 20 most popular games, May 2018
Companies and Brands – What You Need to Know
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- Updated Xbox One X pushes 4K HDR gaming
- Atari to return to console market with VCS in 2019
- Fortnite becomes the most popular game globally
- Software advertising dominates total spend
- Nintendo was the biggest spender on software advertising in 2017
Launch Activity and Innovation
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- Updated Xbox One X pushes 4K HDR gaming
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- Figure 27: The Xbox One X
- Atari to return to console market with VCS in 2019
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- Figure 28: The Atari VCS
- FIFA extends its grip on the football gaming market
- Annual E3 gaming conference reveals host of new games
- Fortnite becomes the most popular game globally
Advertising and Marketing Activity
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- Software advertising dominates total spend
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- Figure 29: Total above-the-line, online display and direct mail advertising expenditure on video games and consoles, 2015-2017
- Digital accounts for nearly half of video games and console advertising
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- Figure 30: Total above-the-line, online display and direct mail advertising expenditure on video games and consoles, by media type, 2016 and 2017
- Nintendo was the biggest spender on software advertising in 2017
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- Figure 31: Total above-the-line, online display and direct mail advertising expenditure on video games software, by leading advertisers, 2017
- Nielsen Ad Intel coverage
The Consumer – What You Need to Know
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- Half of console owners have a PlayStation 4
- Regular purchasers are favouring digital games
- Gamers aged 16-24 more likely to choose digital than physical formats
- Seven in 10 gamers stick to similar genres
- Frequency of gameplay is rising
- Men play more often but gaming is increasingly popular among women
- Two thirds of 16-24-year-olds play video games at least once a week
- Little intention to buy as people wait for next-generation consoles
- Four in 10 gamers are interested in playing virtual reality games
- Seven in 10 gamers play on smartphones or tablets
Console Ownership
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- Nearly two thirds of 16-24s have a static console in the household
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- Figure 32: Static and portable console ownership, December 2013-June 2018
- Half of console owners have a PlayStation 4 …
- … while four in 10 have an Xbox One
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- Figure 33: Static console ownership, June 2018
- The majority of gaming households just have one console
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- Figure 34: Repertoire of static console ownership, June 2018
- All age groups are more likely to have a PlayStation 4 than Xbox One
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- Figure 35: Proportion of console owners with PS4 or Xbox, by age, June 2018
- Nearly half of portable console owners have a Nintendo 3DS
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- Figure 36: Portable console ownership, June 2018
Gaming Purchase Patterns
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- Downloadable content driving demand for additional storage capacity
- Regular purchasers are favouring digital games …
- … while 16-24s are more likely to choose digital than physical formats
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- Figure 37: Purchase regularity, by format, June 2018
- Seven in 10 gamers stick to similar genres
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- Figure 38: Attitudes towards game buying, June 2018
- Three in 10 gamers have bought new titles due to online trailers
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- Figure 39: Important factors when buying new games, June 2018
- Half of gamers buy new games based on trailers and price promotions
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- Figure 40: TURF Analysis – Video game purchase enticements, June 2018
Gaming Behaviours
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- Frequency of gameplay is rising
- Men play more often but gaming is increasingly popular among women
- Two thirds of 16-24-year-olds play video games at least once a week
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- Figure 41: Frequency of video game activity, June 2018
- Seven in 10 people with an Xbox One or PS4 play at least once a week
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- Figure 42: Gaming frequency, by console ownership, June 2018
- Seven in 10 gamers play alone …
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- Figure 43: Social gaming, June 2018
- … but over half of Xbox One and PS4 households play online
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- Figure 44: Online play*, by console ownership, June 2018
Intention to Buy
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- Little intention to buy as people wait for next-generation consoles
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- Figure 45: Intention to buy consoles in the next year, June 2018
- Intention to buy PS4 Pro or Xbox One X twice as high among men
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- Figure 46: Intention to buy consoles in the next year, by selected demographics, June 2018
- Half of PlayStation 4 owners are interested in virtual reality
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- Figure 47: PlayStation VR ownership and interest, June 2018
- Four in 10 gamers are interested in playing virtual reality games …
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- Figure 48: Interest in virtual reality gaming, June 2018
- … rising to two thirds of frequent gamers aged 16-34
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- Figure 49: Target group for VR gaming – CHAID – Tree output, June 2018
Attitudes towards Video Games and Consoles
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- Seven in 10 gamers play on smartphones or tablets
- Six in 10 play on both consoles and PCs
- Downloadable content driving the importance of internal memory
- Nearly six in 10 gamers aged 25-44 interested in retro consoles
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- Figure 50: Console and device behaviours, June 2018
- Most gamers still prefer the transparency of upfront payments …
- … and over a third have paid extra for expanded editions of games
- Six in 10 gamers aged 16-24 watch streams of other people playing
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- Figure 51: Video game behaviours, June 2018
Appendix – Data Sources, Abbreviations and Supporting Information
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- Abbreviations
- Consumer research methodology
- Market size and forecast
- Fan chart forecast
- Total market value forecast
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- Figure 52: forecast for the value of the UK video games and consoles market, 2018-23
- Hardware value forecast
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- Figure 53: Forecast for the value of the UK games console market, 2018-2023
- Hardware volume forecast
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- Figure 54: Forecast for the volume of the UK games console market, 2018-2023
- Software value forecast
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- Figure 55: Forecast for the value of the UK video games software market, 2018-2023
- Software volume forecast
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- Figure 56: Forecast for the volume of the UK video games software market, 2018-2023
- CHAID analysis – Methodology
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- Figure 57: Target group for VR gaming – CHAID – Table output, June 2018
- TURF Analysis – Methodology
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- Figure 58: Table – TURF Analysis – Video game purchase enticements, June 2018
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