Gaming

Industry operators primarily sell video games including CDs and DVDs. Digital downloads from industry retailers that operate from bricks-and-mortar stores are also included. Businesses that primarily operate online are excluded from the industry.

Video game retailers have faced a challenging environment over the past five years. Industry performance has been affected by trends in real household discretionary income, consumer sentiment, the average hours worked by consumers and the number of internet connections.

Declines in the average weekly hours worked have meant that consumers have had more spare time to enjoy CDs, DVDs or computer games. However, despite growth in discretionary income over the period, fluctuations in consumer sentiment have led to weaker spending on non-essential goods. Most importantly, changing media formats have made it difficult for the industry to generate revenue.

Industry revenue is expected to decline by an annualised 6.4% over the five years through 2014-15. Much of this decline can be attributed to changes in music and video game formats.

Source of Report – IBIS world (http://www.ibisworld.com.au)