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ERA reported a slight decline in consumer spending on games and hardware in 2021, saying that smartphones were the most popular gaming devices and Steam was the number one online marketplace.
FIFA 2022
The Digital Entertainment and Retail Association (ERA) issued a report on the entertainment industry in the UK including the game business using the data from GfK, Omdia, FlyResearch, and other analytics firms.
According to the report, a significant 2020's boost in the game industry sales didn't retain last year with total consumer spending declining by 3.4% to £4.3 billion. The drop was driven by the decline in physical software and download-to-own markets as well as the "Other digital and online" segment. Meanwhile, "Mobile & Tablet" was the only segment that provided growth for the games category in 2021.
The most popular gaming devices in 2021 were smartphones with 30,3% of people using them for playing games followed by PC/laptops (24%) and static video game consoles (20,8%). The most under-utilized platform was Google Stadia with only 0,8% of users choosing it for playing games.
Like the year earlier, Steam became the most popular online marketplace with 40,1% of players using the platform for digital titles purchases. The second place was taken by PS Store with 36,8% followed by Microsoft Store with 24,3%.
Call of Duty: Vanguard
As for hardware sales, ERA reported that 1.2 million PlayStation 5 consoles were sold over the past year worth £505.5 million, which is 165% higher compared to 2020. Meanwhile, Nintendo sold the same amount of units of its 4-year-old Nintendo Switch generating £303.7 million, down 17.3% versus the previous year. Microsoft's Xbox Series X|S sales amounted to £284.1 million (up 141% year-over-year) with more than 800k units sold.
Among the physical sales across the various platforms under the Nintendo, Sony, and Microsoft umbrellas, Nintendo's sales have shown the biggest result with consumer spending amounting to £236 million (47% of the total consumer spending). Players have also spent £201 million on PlayStation discs (39%) and nearly £71 million on Xbox discs (14%).
FIFA 22 topped the rating of combined physical and digital sales with 2.3 million copies sold followed by Call of Duty: Vanguard (975,000 copies) and GTA V (967,000 copies).
You can find the 2021 ERA Overview here. Also, don't forget to join our new Reddit page, our new Telegram channel, follow us on Instagram and Twitter, where we are sharing breakdowns, the latest news, awesome artworks, and more.