Videogamers, driven by the release of new consoles and technology, pushed the sales of games, subscriptions and hardware to 15 per cent above 2014 sales in another strong year for the industry.

“The current generation of consoles have been adopted rapidly… gaming culture has become well and truly mainstream,” Interactive Games And Entertainment(IGAE) CEO Ron Curry said.

The research released by IGEA on Wednesday showed that digital sales had been the largest growth area, outstripping retail sales by nearly $400 million and making up 56 per cent of all sales.

But traditional retail sales also grew by two per cent at $1.243 billion which showed a strong appetite for physical purchases, particularly for gifts, Curry said.

AAP