New Zealand consumer spend on video games headed towards half a billion dollars

• Overall digital sales were strong, hitting $334 million in 2017, up 12 per cent on the previous year.
• Full digital game downloads were up 21 per cent on 2016 sales. Digital extras also increased 17 per cent year-on-year.
• Home console hardware and accessories sales both experienced growth, up 10 per cent and six per cent respectively.

Auckland, New Zealand – 1 March 2018 – New Zealanders continue to embrace video and computer games, as evidenced by new sales figures released today by the Interactive Games & Entertainment Association (IGEA). Consumer spending on games and hardware reached $452.3 million in 2017, a seven per cent spike on the previous year’s sales.

New Zealand total physical retail sales came in at $118.3 million and overall digital sales at $334 million last year.

According to data from The NPD Group, overall physical retail sales experienced a slight four per cent decline, however this was offset by an increase in sales volume, which was up four per cent in 2017. Home console hardware and accessories sales also increased last year. Kiwis embraced both new and retro consoles. PlayStation®4 continued to dominate the hardware sector, with Xbox One bolstering category growth with the introduction of Xbox One X. The Nintendo Switch also entered the market, performing well alongside the Nintendo Classic Mini: SNES and Nintendo Classic Mini: NES.

Research from Telsyte shows total digital sales were strong, up 12 per cent in 2017. Digital downloads, including full game downloads and digital extras, increased by 20 per cent last year. Subscription revenue also continued to grow, up 22 per cent year-on-year. Mobile game sales retained the majority share of the digital games market at $175 million.

“The New Zealand video and computer games industry is in great shape, evidenced by the latest sales figures that show consumer spending is headed towards half a billion dollars,” said Ron Curry, CEO of IGEA. “New Zealanders are more than happy to access their games content in a variety of ways, both physically and digitally. Sales for the current generation of consoles – PS4™, Xbox One and Nintendo Switch – remain strong. At the same time, we’re seeing impressive growth in subscription revenue, mobile game sales, and downloads of digital games and extras.”

Foad Fadaghi, Telsyte Managing Director, said: “With greater than 70 per cent of households having access to the ultra-fast broadband (UFB), New Zealand’s gamers continue to increase their spending on digital games and extras at a rapid rate.”

An infographic of the 2017 New Zealand sales data is available to download here.

About the research

Since 2009, IGEA has provided a review of the state of New Zealand’s video games industry using commissioned research from The NPD Group. With the growth of digital gaming, the NPD data has been augmented with research from Telsyte to provide a complete picture on the state of the industry.

About IGEA

IGEA is the industry association representing the business and public policy interests of New Zealand and Australian companies in the computer and video games industry. IGEA’s members publish, develop, market and/or distribute interactive games and entertainment content and related hardware including mobile and handheld games. For more information, please visit www.igea.net.

Media spokespeople available

• For interviews with Ron Curry, CEO of IGEA, please contact Amy Rathbone, Espresso Communications, on +61 2 8016 2200 or igea@espressocomms.com.au.
• For interviews with Foad Fadaghi, Managing Director of Telsyte, please contact him on +61 414 992 466.