The UK’s game market valued at £7.05billion in 2022

UK Interactive Entertainment (UKIE) has valued the UK’s game market at £7.05billion in 2022, with Elden Ring and Lego Star Wars: The Skywalker Saga named as some of the year’s most popular games.

The £7.05billion valuation is a slight dip from 2021’s £7.47billion, but remains 17 per cent higher than spending habits before the COVID-19 pandemic — in 2019, the market was valued at £5.3billion.

UKIE’s report was published today (April 4) and outlines some of the UK’s spending habits when it comes to games.

While hardware sales were down by 19 per cent – bringing in £832million – software sales accounted for £4.57million of the UK’s gaming market, with 16 per cent of that figure going to games developed in the UK.

According to the ERA Yearbook 2023 (via UKIE), the best-performing games in the UK included Lego Star Wars: The Skywalker Saga, Pokémon Legends: Arceus and Elden Ring, along with Sony‘s PlayStation exclusives God Of War Ragnarok and Horizon Forbidden West.

Additionally, UKIE revealed that 2022 was the UK’s biggest-ever year for film adaptations of games, bringing in £54.8million thanks to the likes of Sonic The Hedgehog 2 and Uncharted.

“We’re pleased to see the UK video games consumer market has maintained its growth trajectory and remains in-line with where we expected it to be in 2019,” said Dr. Jo Twist OBE, UKIE’s CEO.

“Although we may have seen a natural levelling off following increased spending during the lockdown years, it’s clear that the appetite for games and games culture in the UK is still strong.”

Earlier in the year, Twist revealed that she was stepping down as UKIE’s CEO.

Looking ahead, UKIE has warned that “serious investment” will be required for the country to maintain its “incredible growth” in the game industry.

The trade body’s comments followed the UK government’s spring budget, which was met with warnings of mass closures from the live music industry.