72% of UK gamers prefer buying physical games

Digital may be the industry’s biggest market, but consumers still prefer to buy games in a box.

Analysts Kantar WorldPanel revealed that two-thirds (72 per cent) of consumers are buying boxed products only. It follows estimates from Screen Digest, which showed that digital games last year generated more revenue than physical ones.

Just ten per cent of UK gamers have made the switch from physical to exclusively buying digital games. That’s compared to 18 per cent of gamers who are buying both.

Consumers still enjoy physical products due to the high cost of digital games and the ability to trade-in boxed games at stores.

Kantar also revealed that the console gaming population of adults in the UK is six times larger than that of kids. Yet, 76 per cent of children aged seven to 14 play console games – well ahead of the 55 per cent of UK adults playing consoles.