In 2025, UK consumers spent £5.4 billion on video games.
This was reported by the Entertainment Retailers Association, citing data from NielsenIQ/GfK Entertainment, Omdia and GSD/IFSE, indicating growth of 7.4% year over year. This is the biggest growth for video games in the UK since 2020, with revenue up 27.9% on 2019 figures.
A key driver of growth in 2025 was an 8.8% increase in mobile gaming revenue, which generated £1.88 billion over the period, equating to 5.5% growth between 2023 and 2024. Mobile game revenues lagged 35.5% of total game sales last year.
Meanwhile, console game downloads brought in $857.6 million in the period, up 11.5% on last year, although physical sales fell 1% to £318.8 million. Boxed sales will account for just 5% of total UK gaming revenue in 2025.
Digital sales generated revenue of £5 billion, up 8% on last year. The top seller this year was EA Sports FC 26, selling over 1.97 million units in both physical and digital formats.
The ERA described gaming as the latest form of entertainment to value ownership over access to varying degrees; 45% of gaming revenue came from consumers purchasing games rather than subscribing to them. For comparison: for music this figure is 16.6%, and for video – 7.2%.
The organization also notes that between 2016 and 2025, UK GDP grew by 12%; Meanwhile, gaming revenue grew 86%, a 7.2x increase.
“Growth in the gaming market has slowed significantly following the incredible 27.9% growth seen in the pandemic year of 2020, but continued innovation has seen it return to strong shape in 2025,” said ERA CEO Kim Bailey.
“We really hope it maintains this momentum until 2026.”
Overall, UK entertainment – games, music and video – will reach £13.3 billion in 2025, up 7.1% on last year.
