The UK consumer lavished GBP 1.9bn on videogame sales in '08, that's 23% more than the previous year.
We Brits splurged another GBP 1.422bn through console hardware sales, with the ELSPA saying videogames are "increasingly bringing families together" with casual family games.
"Videogaming is increasingly bringing families together with the introduction of so many outstanding family-based console titles," said ELSPA's managing director, Michael Rawlinson.
"These have really opened up the market to those who may never have even considered playing a videogame before," he added.
2009 may not be so jammed packed with sales though as analysts predict a quieter year for industry. Peter Molyneux even when as far to describe '09 as "rather dry" for excitement compared to last year's line-up.
"While there is stuff in 2010 we can look forward to, off the top of my head, I cannot think of anything this year that really excites me," said Molyneux.
"I think we're going to see a lot of price pressure put on games," he predicts.
Source: Eurogamer