INSUBCONTINENT EXCLUSIVE:
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Red Dead Redemption 2 sold more than one million physical copies in 2018
The video games sector now accounts for more than half of UK's entire entertainment market, according to a new report.The industry is
than video and music combined.The success is largely down to three games: Fifa 19, Red Dead Redemption 2 and Call of Duty: Black Ops 4.The
games market has grown, despite fact that physical console and PC games market shrank slightly in 2018, and digital also had a modest 12.5%
growth.Chief executive of ERA, Kim Bayley said: "The games industry has been incredibly effective in taking advantage of potential of
digital technology to offer new and compelling forms of entertainment
Despite being youngest of our three sectors, it is now by far biggest." Three games - Fifa 19, Red Dead Redemption 2 and Call of Duty:
Black Ops 4 - each sold more than one million physical units in UK during 2018.The figures do not take account of success of mobile and free
games such as Fortnite, which has more than 200 million players around world.Piers Harding-Rolls, head of games research at IHS Markit said:
"During last five years games sector has benefited hugely from mainstream adoption of games apps on smart devices, and transition from
physical distribution to digital distribution in established parts of market such as console gaming
"Games are now truly mass market and a very important part of entertainment sector."He added: "Growth has been fuelled by dominance of free
content and in-game monetisation, which expands adoption of games but also removes cap on spending for those gamers that are really engaged
"The flexibility of interactive content means it is unique in that it can be monetised in this way, which is an advantage over other forms
