Last year was a record period for video games in the UK, with sales of software and hardware hitting an all-time high of £4.03bn ($6.1bn). The Nintendo Wii was a must-have Christmas gadget for a third year.

Amid the high-street’s problems, the video games sector has offered rare hope to retailers. Sainsbury’s, which is devoting increasing amounts of shelf space to games, said that games sales leapt 70 per cent over the Christmas period, largely thanks to Nintendo’s Wii and DS consoles.