With recorded-music revenues on the increase again, the comparison to the games industry may be a less sensitive issue.
Some new figures are out for the latter sector though, and they show continued growth.
Research firm IHS Markit whose games estimates are respected within that industry, claims that the global games market grew 5.6% to $21.6bn in 2016.
That’s games software – once console hardware sales are introduced, the market totalled $34.7bn in 2016, down 2.5% year-on-year thanks to a $2.3bn drop in console sales.
Also of interest: gamers spent $2.8bn on ‘console platform subscriptions’ in 2016. That’s schemes like Sony’s PlayStation Plus and Microsoft’s Xbox Live Gold, which provide features like multiplayer support and exclusive discounts on games for a monthly fee.
In separate news, UK games industry body Ukie claims that the British games market grew by 1.2% to £4.33bn in 2016, including more than £3bn of software sales.
Mobile games alone generated £995m in the UK last year, while Ukie is also including £61.3m of virtual-reality headset sales in its totals.
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