UK games market records strongest growth since 2020 as mobile spending lifts 2025 revenue to £5.4bn

UK consumer spending on video games rose to £5.4 billion in 2025, marking a 7.4% year-on-year increase and the strongest annual growth the sector has seen since the pandemic-driven surge of 2020, according to new figures from the Entertainment Retailers Association (ERA).

Data compiled by ERA using sources including NielsenIQ/GfK Entertainment, Omdia, and GSD/IFSE shows that mobile gaming was the primary driver of last year’s expansion. Revenue from mobile and tablet titles climbed 8.8% to £1.88 billion, accounting for more than a third of total UK games revenue and continuing an upward trend seen in previous years.

Digital formats continued to dominate the market overall. Digital game sales generated £5 billion in 2025, up 8% year-on-year, while boxed console game sales declined slightly by 1% to £318.9 million. Physical copies represented just 5% of total games revenue, underscoring the sector’s long-term shift toward downloads and in-app spending. Full-game console downloads, however, posted double-digit growth, rising 11.5% to £857.6 million.

Despite the growth of subscription-based access models across entertainment, games remain more purchase-driven than other media categories. ERA estimates that 45% of games revenue in 2025 came from outright purchases, compared with 16.6% for music and 7.2% for video, positioning games as an outlier in an otherwise access-led entertainment landscape.

The strongest-selling title of the year was EA Sports FC 26, which sold more than 1.97 million units across digital and physical formats in the UK. ERA noted that strong releases, combined with continued innovation in mobile and live-service games, helped reaccelerate market growth after several slower post-pandemic years.

The performance of games also contributed to a broader upswing across UK entertainment. Total consumer spending across games, music, and video reached £13.3 billion in 2025, up 7.1% year-on-year and more than four times faster than projected UK GDP growth. Over the past decade, UK games revenue has increased by 86%, significantly outpacing the wider economy, which grew by around 12% over the same period.

ERA said the 2025 results indicate that entertainment spending patterns established during the pandemic have translated into longer-term structural change. While growth moderated after 2020, the association pointed to 2025 as evidence that the games sector has regained momentum, supported by mobile growth, digital distribution, and continued consumer demand heading into 2026.