Australian video game market hit $2.83bn in 2015

The Australian video game industry had another strong year in 2015, as digital sales overtook retail sales for the first time.

Total sales of video game hardware, software and accessories grew 15% in Australia to $2.83 billion in 2015, according to research conducted by Telsyte for the Interactive Games & Entertainment Association (IGEA).

Digital sales surged 27% to $1.59 billion, surpassing retail sales. But retail sales also increased — albeit at a much smaller 2% — to reach $1.24 billion.

Rapid adoption of the eighth generation of video game consoles — the Playstation 4, Xbox One and Wii-U — has driven growth in software and accessories, the research shows.

Console software was the best performing category, with 13% growth in revenue over last year. PC game downloads have also increased, while mobile games continue to be the largest segment of the digital games ecosystem.

“It has been another very strong year of growth for the Australian video games industry. Digital sales continue to surge in Australia as consumers become increasingly comfortable purchasing downloaded versions and additional content of their favourite games,” IGEA CEO Ron Curry commented.

“The current generation of consoles have been adopted rapidly by Australians, highlighting that gaming culture has become well and truly mainstream in the intervening years. This has had a flow-on effect to the increased sale of both packaged games and digital content.”

But despite this, the research also shows that 39% of video game consumers still express a preference for physical copies to collect or gift, he said.

Image courtesy of Joannie Dennis under CC