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UK Game Industry declines 3.3%

Esppiral

Member
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I wonder why crazy politicians have crazy hair.
 
Truck drivers crisis as well was a big factor, I guess.
The UK been going digital for years and its clear when you walk down the highstreet, it dead for shops and now just full of Take Away's coffee shops pawn shops for the smack heads to sell their stuff for the next fix
 
To be fair, we've also been allowed out the house this year without any full lockdowns bar the start of the year. So it's not really that surprising.

The digital thing is huge though. I can't handle them figures. I have shitternet, don't do this to me fellow brits.
Try living in Wales under the Welsh Dictator that is Drakeford.

It's been clear the UK going digital for years, most high streets are dead, even many banks are closing down their local branches since everyone is online.
 

PaintTinJr

Member
The number re fifa is there in the OP, 59% up from 51.9%. I wouldn't round it towards 50/50.

Using the additional data, so excluding mobile and I think dlc/mtx. Digital for UK games sales is 60% up from 56.6% the previous year.
I suspect it isn't anywhere near as high as that, because Fifa is a GaaS game with an annual buy-in at £50 physical or £70 digital - unless buying used, which isn't likely counted as a physical sale - and for many that have no desire to trade-in after use the convenience of having their GaaS game always available to play immediately in their system - interspersed with whatever single player game they own on disc or digital - will outweigh the price difference - between physical/digital - and lack of ability to physically own IMHO.

So Fifa is almost certainly an outlier - where even the FuT revenue made in the £3.7b is generated indirectly from multiple 2nd hand disc sales too -but is intentionally being used to distort reality of physical AA/AAA game sales - to digital - because everyone except the consumer and shop retailers has a vested interest in pushing the trojan horse digital license, and want to lower consumer pushback of disc sales by misrepresenting the statistics.
 
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There's no damn stock. Even when I wanted a PS5, it still took me a month to get it. Now imagine the majority of casual gamers trying to get one. The industry will get a massive boost when sony and Microsoft sort the stock out. 2023 will be the year this gen really takes off.
 

MrFunSocks

Banned
I suspect it isn't anywhere near as high as that, because Fifa is a GaaS game with an annual buy-in at £50 physical or £70 digital - unless buying used, which isn't likely counted as a physical sale - and for many that have no desire to trade-in after use the convenience of having their GaaS game always available to play immediately in their system - interspersed with whatever single player game they own on disc or digital - will outweigh the price difference - between physical/digital - and lack of ability to physically own IMHO.

So Fifa is almost certainly an outlier - where even the FuT revenue made in the £3.7b is generated indirectly from multiple 2nd hand disc sales too -but is intentionally being used to distort reality of physical AA/AAA game sales - to digital - because everyone except the consumer and shop retailers has a vested interest in pushing the trojan horse digital license, and want to lower consumer pushback of disc sales by misrepresenting the statistics.
Are you trying to say that you think games sell more physically than we think and that everyone is trying to make us think digital is better? Or the other way around?
 
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kyussman

Member
I think this might be my fault guys,lol......I've been all in on gaming in recent years more than ever.Since a year after PS3 launched I've gamed constantly and spent a whole lot on games.....last year with my backlog gone and no chance to get a next gen console I decided to take a break from gaming and only played a few games.
 

Vognerful

Member
I think this might be my fault guys,lol......I've been all in on gaming in recent years more than ever.Since a year after PS3 launched I've gamed constantly and spent a whole lot on games.....last year with my backlog gone and no chance to get a next gen console I decided to take a break from gaming and only played a few games.
Don't be so hard on yourself

Season 4 Hug GIF by Good Girls
 

PaintTinJr

Member
Are you trying to say that you think games sell more physically than we think and that everyone is trying to make us think digital is better? Or the other way around?
I'm saying the presentation of the statistics is intentionally misleading to those that don't stop to check their conclusions against what is actually stated, and this is by design of the people presenting selective statistics.

If they provided a breakdown of the £3.7b by DLC, smartphone, PC/console indies, console AA/AAA(by recognised publishers) what you would see is that the number of people buying a physical copy of Fifa (new or used) exceeds the number buying it digital, despite it being a GaaS which normal gamers don't really want to disc swap between playing it and other games, so will have more digital buyers than say an average Guardians of the Galaxy type game and fifa has been chosen because at face value the number implies digital is bigger than physical for all AA/AAA games.
 
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reksveks

Member
Are you trying to say that you think games sell more physically than we think and that everyone is trying to make us think digital is better? Or the other way around?
I think he is saying a couple of things
- there are more buyers of fifa physically including used copies than digital. That roughly means that on average 20% of copies get resold once (have simplified cause one copy could be resold 10 times). I don't think the market (definitely publishers) cares about used games sales. This amount of reselling needed is going to get worse over time. I would be interested to see if we have any stats on how big the used games market is.
- digital mtx off the back off a physical game sale should be either counted as physical or at least classified differently.

PaintTinJr PaintTinJr , the 3.7bn is broken down in the table that I shared.

Data on used games market from 2019: https://www.gamesindustry.biz/articles/2019-04-03-is-it-all-over-for-pre-owned-video-games .

I will have a look if they have any updated numbers but it (used games) was 20.9% of physical games market in 2019 according to kantar. Both Game and Gamestop were reporting or forecasting significant drops in those years.
GameStop Trend and Forecast: https://dashboards.trefis.com/no-login-required/qsk75Qpi (not 100% of the source and the immediate IR reports doesn't break down software sales sadly)

There is the quote from 2020 though

Technological advances in the delivery and types of video games and PC entertainment hardware and software, as well as
changes in consumer behavior related to these new technologies, have and may continue to lower our sales.
The current consoles from Sony, Nintendo, and Microsoft have facilitated download technology. In addition, Microsoft
and Sony sell disc-less consoles that are currently available to consumers. Downloading of video game content to the current
generation video game systems continues to grow and take an increasing percentage of new video game sales. As a result of
quarantine policies and social distancing measures enacted in response to the COVID-19 pandemic, consumers may
increasingly download video game content, and any such changes to consumer behavior may continue after such policies and
measures are rescinded. If consumers’ preference for downloading video game content continues to increase or these
consoles and other advances in technology continue to expand our customers’ ability to access and download the current
format of video games and incremental content for their games through these and other sources, our customers may no longer
choose to purchase video games in our stores or reduce their purchases in favor of other forms of game delivery. As a result,
our business and results of operations may be negatively impacted.
 
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nush

Gold Member
"When I was you age, little Jimmy, we used to go to the store, and buy little pieces of circular plastic that had the games microscopically printed onto them. And we got the game off of the plastic with lasers!"

MOM! Grandads talking crazy again!
 

Tams

Gold Member
Try living in Wales under the Welsh Dictator that is Drakeford.

It's been clear the UK going digital for years, most high streets are dead, even many banks are closing down their local branches since everyone is online.
The last bank branch is set to close soon in my hometown. We used to four major bank's branches for a population of about 2,500.

Not that the branches have been much use for years. Over a decade ago I had issues accessing my account and the local branch literally phoned the same helpline that I'd been ringing the previous day. They didn't even get priority access and were directed to the Indian call centre too.
 
The last bank branch is set to close soon in my hometown. We used to four major bank's branches for a population of about 2,500.

Not that the branches have been much use for years. Over a decade ago I had issues accessing my account and the local branch literally phoned the same helpline that I'd been ringing the previous day. They didn't even get priority access and were directed to the Indian call centre too.
They've all gone in my home town and under Dripford. Shops like Tesco/Asda weren't allowed to sell video games during the lockdown. The man nothing but a vile evil socialist dictator
 

FUBARx89

Member
Try living in Wales under the Welsh Dictator that is Drakeford.

It's been clear the UK going digital for years, most high streets are dead, even many banks are closing down their local branches since everyone is online.

Mate, I live in the NE of England and not one of the big cities. It's like the land time forgot.

Aye I know everyone does online these days, but I still buy physical online. It's probably faster for it to be delivered (usually early too) vs downloading for me.
 
Mate, I live in the NE of England and not one of the big cities. It's like the land time forgot.

Aye I know everyone does online these days, but I still buy physical online. It's probably faster for it to be delivered (usually early too) vs downloading for me.
It's worse in Wales. At least you can watch live sport and be severed at a bar.
 
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