Retail superpower Tesco is planning yet more growth in the video games market with heavy investment in online and in-store operations throughout 2008.

And in a move likely to enrage indies, it has vowed to continue selling cut-price games.

After a flourishing year in 2007, which saw Tesco smash sales records on both hardware and software, the UK’s biggest retailer wants to strengthen its already formidable punching power in the sector.

“We have grown our gaming category at a fantastic rate over the past few years and 2008 will be no exception,” Matthew Cushway, buying manager for gaming at Tesco told MCV.

“We are investing more resource into our in-store and online space and will be working hard to meet the requirements from our customers to improve on our current offering. Gaming as a category will see big investment and customers will notice many positive changes, but offering the best possible value on all our gaming products is one thing we won’t be changing this year.”

The bullish talk comes off the back of the supermarket’s best ever week for games in the run-up to Christmas, while its online operation saw a 250 per cent year-on-year sales surge in the few weeks before the holiday season.

“Demand for gaming products has been exceptional this Christmas, both in store and online,” added Cushway.

“With the next-gen consoles now sitting in more and more homes, the demand for software has been unprecedented.
“The Nintendo Wii was our biggest success story with unprecedented interest for both consoles and software.”