UK videogames market 'suffers' in 2012, but I still wanna buy games from a shop!

[StevenW]

MCV has released some stats about the UK games market. It's apparently down 17.4 per cent to £1.598bn in 2012 compared to £1.934bn in 2012.

I think 'suffers' is probably the wrong word to use as it's clear with those figures that there's a fair few people making a lot of cash out of it.


Interestingly, digital sales actually grew by 7.7 percent, while sales in the retail sector dropped by more than 25 percent. I hate to say it but I think the days of not being able to buy many games from the shop are closer than we think. I hope the PS4 has a massive harddrive.

Source -- http://www.mcvuk.com/news/read/overa...n-2012/0108783

[LfCpS3]

The cheaper prices AND the pre order incentives from stores like amazon is sometimes just too good to pass up.

Plus waiting like a few weeks and buying games cheaper from ebay is very common too i bet.

Buying from the comfort of your own home is very nice too.

[StevenW]

The cheaper prices AND the pre order incentives from stores like amazon is sometimes just too good to pass up.

Plus waiting like a few weeks and buying games cheaper from ebay is very common too i bet.

Buying from the comfort of your own home is very nice too.

It's a new era I think. I'm over 30 so could only ever buy games in a shop until fairly recently. Maybe it's nostalgia that makes me so fond of getting a physical copy of the game. Cheaper is always good, but I'll be sad when the game shops die. Most of the independent ones have anyway.


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[Nitey]

Yep the independant game shops in my area have all disappeared, and I'd bet all over the UK it's the same. It's just so much more convenient buying from the likes of Amazon, and even supermarkets like Tesco and Asda as people accumulate points and such instore from their normal grocery shop and can redeem them on game purchases. Sometimes they even get the game to you a day earlier... I know ShopTo often do this

The likes of GAME and HMV have hard a pretty rough time of late. Our local GAME and HMV both shut down (H&M for men opening there makes it a good trade-off personally though ) so I don't really have choice as to where I get games now, it's all online. I don't think I'd ever prefer digital to physical though - on my Vita I do, because those little game carts are too small, but for home consoles I'll always prefer physical

[claud3]

not surprised by this... With the government being so tight fisted and bringing in new rules making even harder for industries to grow more

[Fijiandoce]

It's a new era I think. I'm over 30 so could only ever buy games in a shop until fairly recently. Maybe it's nostalgia that makes me so fond of getting a physical copy of the game. Cheaper is always good, but I'll be sad when the game shops die. Most of the independent ones have anyway.


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im 21. i can't imagine gaming without a physical medium. why? i still have PS1 games. how am i to keep digital copies when the servers go dark and i can't redownload...
a physical copy will last as long as your memory of it will. it will be sad if they die out

however, putting on my arrogant economic hat. this all falls within the norm. the bubble expanded, and now its contracting. whether a new platform is enough to stimulate continued growth remains to be seen.
the PC is doing quite a lot better than it was when the 360 and ps3 were released, thanks in no small part to steam.

it is to be expected at this stage in a consoles life.

[keefy]

Cheap unlimited internet probably has something to do with this.

I would much rather download my games thesedays because

1. It saves space
2. Can often be quicker than going to the shop and back, no need to leave house at midnight

I only bought 1 physical game in 2011 which was BF3 because I had the cash in my pocket and it was slightly cheaper than what EA wanted ontheir Origin site. Oh and where I bought it from has since closed for good, it ws a gamestation

PSN needs to cheapen their prices for digital downloads I bought the God of war games via PSN (2 years ago) and it was about the same price as the physical disc but only because I got a few £££s of for being a PSplus member otherwise it was more expensive.


I probably prefer digital because I have been using steam since 2003, at first I was skeptical about buying and downloadign back then it was not quick to download stuff on a 512kbit connection, I think HL2 took about 3 or 4 hours maybe even longer.

[AaronSOLDIER]

2012 was a poor year IMO, so I'm not surprised.

I'm 100% behind buying my games digitally now when I can, unless it's a limited edition or I do actually want the disc for collection purposes, like Kingdom Hearts HD, I'll be importing the disc rather than buying it off the Japanese Store (if it's even added).

[claud3]

i feel this year is going to be worse and a massive hole will be created with many being fired or leaving the industry

[Shingo]

You all feel sorry that you can't have a game store that is close to you but i can't buy any game in my country not even from my town lol...

[StevenW]

There's just one GAME Store in my town now, the other closed last year.

[Nitey]

You all feel sorry that you can't have a game store that is close to you but i can't buy any game in my country not even from my town lol...

You buy online?

[Shingo]

You buy online?

I usually use zavvi, shopto or play-asia, when they got deals of course. just a few times i used psstore but not like i want to, i just have to. At release date games cost around 100$/75€ in my lovely Turkey

[Nitey]

Oh right. That's bloody expensive lol. I use Zavvi and ShopTo but since I'm in UK I get free delivery >.<

[R3D D3V!L]

Shopto and Amazon are where it's at.

[claud3]

well what ever happens, we will all be effected big time

2013, 2014 and 2015 will be the test for the next gen if and when they come out