Gamers and developers have long cited gaming as one of the entertainment industries with the biggest potential. Now we have the numbers and statistics to back that up, as the video games market is currently worth a whopping £3.864 billion (or roughly RM20.103 billion), making it larger in value than both film and music combined.

According to the Entertainment Retailers Association (ERA) (via Sky News), three games in 2018 managed to sell more than one million units in the UK alone. These titles were FIFA 19, Red Dead Redemption 2, and Call of Duty Black Ops 4.

Despite physical retail sales actually decreasing by 2.8% in 2018, the games industry still comprises approximately 51.3% of the total entertainment market. That basically means that around half of the world’s entertainment is now being dominated by gaming.

ERA CEO Kim Bayley attributes the games industry’s huge growth to the fact that it took advantage of the digital format to offer “new and compelling forms of entertainment.” Gaming has always adopted the latest tech faster than any other entertainment medium, often trailblazing the way for movies, TV, and music to catch up.

The most recent example of this would have to be Netflix’s grand experiment in releasing Black Mirror Bandersnatch. It took the world by storm, introducing non-gamers to the branching narratives of the interactive choose-your-own-adventure platform.

In other related news, esports viewership numbers are also set to overtake traditional sports like basketball and football by 2022. It has already surpassed that of baseball and hockey, so it’s only going to get even bigger from now on.