Console hardware revenue was down 27% year-on-year to £832 million,game hardware fell 14% to £760 million, console game and accessories sales declined 15% to £396 million, and VR hardware was down 6.6% to £171 million.
“Much can still be attributed to Covid uncertainty, but the Russia-Ukraine war, recession, inflation, rising energy/food/living costs all play a part in dampening consumer confidence, with consumers putting off major purchase decisions – including of course game hardware.” “The digital segment of the UK’s console market was impacted by a further shift towards pre-pandemic engagement levels, resulting in fewer downloads of legacy software titles and reduced spend on console DLC,” said Matt Bailey, principal analyst with Omdia.– also prevented many would-be ninth-generation console owners from shifting their spend toward higher value digital content.
The report also found that £316 million was spent on game culture in 2022, which was up 27% year-on-year.