Video gaming worth £4.33bn

The UK’s video games market reached a record £4.33billion valuation in 2016, the industry’s trade body has said.

The Association for UK Interactive Entertainment (Ukie) said the launch of consumer virtual reality systems and the success of mobile app Pokemon Go were key contributors to the value increase, which was up 1.2% on 2015.

Virtual reality headsets, including Sony’s PlayStation VR, HTC Vive and the Facebook-owned Oculus Rift all went on-sale last year adding more than £61million in value to the industry, according to Ukie.

The body’s chief executive Dr Jo Twist said: “Our sector is constantly innovatingandinvesting in new experiences, technologies and talent, resulting in the strong and resilient games industry shown in this £4.33billion market valuation.

“It has been an excellent year for the industry, including the release of first commercially available VR headsets, an exciting year for our national esports scene, and the explosion of the UK mobile market, which is now worth nearly £1billion alone.”

However, the figures showed a drop of more than 26% in console hardware revenue, down to £507.5million compared to £696million in 2015 as the

“Pokemon was cited as a key factor in growth overall”

flagship PlayStation 4 and Xbox One consoles completed the third year of their life cycle, having both launched in 2013.

Pokemon Go, the smashhit augmented reality mobile game which enabled players to hunt down and catch virtual Pokemon in the real world was cited as a key factor in the overall industry’s growth.