PS4 and Xbox One drove bumper year for Australian video game industry

The launch of Sony's PS4, Microsoft's Xbox One and Nintendo's Wii U in late 2013, led to a bumper 2014 for the Australian video and computer games industry, with annual sales up 20 per cent to $2.46 billion.Research released by the Interactive Games & Entertainment Association (IGEA) on Wednesday morning found that local sales of console hardware were up 47 per cent on the previous year, due to the rush by consumers to bag the latest machines.

The PS4 and Xbox One registered the best sales within the first 12 months of launch of any console hardware in Australia, and console purchases were the primary factor in traditional retail sales in the sector increasing 7 oer cent on 2013 to hit $1.214 billion. Meanwhile in games sales the real growth was in digital downloads, which grew 39 per cent year on year to $1.248 billion.
As well as sales figures IGEA released other data from research it had commissioned from NPD Group Australia and Telsyte. The NPD research showed that despite PS4, Xbox One, Wii U and 3DS experiencing growth in software sales, software across the sector was down 5.3 per cent on the previous year to $614.5 million.
The popular Minecraft franchise, which was acquired by Microsoft for $US2.5 billion last September, had a stellar year in Australia more than doubling its sales.
Meanwhile the Telsyte study found that the Australian mobile gaming market, which incorporated smartphone and tablet games, exceeded $700 million in 2014, an increase of 56 per cent over 2013.
Telsyte analyst Foad Fadaghi said this market was being helped along by the increasing prevalence of smartphones with larger screens, such as Apple's iPhone 6 Plus.
"In 2014, a number of factors improved the mobile gaming experience, including larger screen smartphones, faster graphics processing and wider availability of premium games and titles," Mr Fadaghi said.
"Clearly tablet and smartphone gaming has gone beyond being just a casual gaming platform".
Most of this revenue did not come from gamers paying for titles, rather it came through in-app purchases, such as when a customer pays real money for virtual items in a game.
The fastest growing segment of the in-game purchase market came in adventure games, which encourage players to pay for extra levels, missions, campaigns and map packs.
IGEA chief executive Ron Curry, said the research showed the Australian games industry was in great shape, driven by next generation consoles and growth in digital sales.
"Bricks and Mortar retailers have seen a boost in demand for the current generation consoles which in turn has lead to an increase in demand for new console software and accessories and items such as game cards," Mr Curry said.
"The tremendous growth in digital sales shows that publishers and developers are effectively catering to the purchasing habits of an increasingly connected customer base."