According to data posted on MCV, the unparalleled success of Grand Theft Auto 5 has actually aided in the growth of boxed games for the first time since December 2008.
It’s no secret by this point that Rockstar’s GTA 5 has taken the gaming world by storm, with $1 billion generated in 3 days and 2.6 copies sold within the UK in a two week period, so it should come as no huge surprise that sales of the game accounted for half of the boxed games sold in September.
According to the MCV data report, Grand Theft Auto V has already generated £90 million in UK sales, and alongside other big name releases such as FIFA 14, retailers have made more than £180 million in total.
Just to put this into perspective, that amount is a 45% year on year increase, and rather impressively, is the first time that the gaming scene in the UK has seen an increase in sales since December 2008.
The arrival of the next gen consoles, the PS4 and Xbox One, are also expected to gradually generate market growth here in the UK. One thing to keep in mind though, is that increasing numbers of people buy their games digitally, so those gamers won’t even be counted by retail monitors.
A similar outcome is expected in the US.