Games revenues will overtake cash generated by music at retail by the end of the year, according to Screen Digest.

With interactive entertainment continuing its spectacular rise to prominence, demand for Nintendo hardware repeatedly hitting the headlines and the multi-billion dollar Activision Blizzard deal shocking the financial world, the games industry now looks set to leapfrog its faltering music counterpart in terms of retail revenues.

And games analyst at Screen Digest Ed Barton expects this to continue throughout 2008. “The UK market will keep  growing as the home console market moves from the transition period into the mass adoption phase,” he told MCV.

“So the outlook for packaged games is a positive one in the short term, certainly compared to its competitors for shelf space.”

Screen Digest's figures in full:

UK Retail Revenues   

2006             
Music: £1555.3m     
Games: £1275.2m          
Video: £2492.1m         

2007
Music: £1161.6m  
Games: £1517.8m
Video: £2450.2m

2008
Music: £1285.6m
Games: £1593.9m
Video: £2251.1m

% Growth

2006      
Music: -16.6%        
Games: +4.6%         
Video: -8.0%        

2007
Music: -17.3%
Games: +19.0%
Video: -1.7%

2008
Music: -9.6%  
Games: +5.0%
Video: -8.1% 

% Share

2006     
Music: 29.2%     
Games: 24.0%       
Video: 46.8%      

2007
Music: 24.5%
Games: 28.9%
Video: 46.6%

2008
Music: 23.2%
Games: 31.8%
Video: 45.0%