High Street retailer HMV's CEO, Simon Fox, has predicted that games could soon be bigger business for the retail chain than music. Speaking in an interview, Fox said, "Within the next 12 to 18 months, it’s possible games will be bigger than music for us."

HMV has predicted that the contribution of CDs to its revenue will drop from 30% to a quarter. Games currently account for 19%.

“Music is in our DNA and we are totally committed to it. But the fact is, the market is moving away from music — so we are giving more space in our stores to games.”

This comes after games drove a 4.3% sales growth for HMV over the 18 week period leading to August 30th. That compared to a 1.7% drop for book sales in its Waterstones outlets.

Fox expanded on how games performed for his company, saying, “In games, we grew by just over 50 per cent, ahead of the market. And looking forward to Christmas, Wii Fit will continue to do well, FIFA 09 will be huge, as will Gears of War, Guitar Hero and Rock Band. There’s a good line-up of releases.”

Fox hasn't just discovered games by any means. Over a year ago Fox was talking about how games would save HMV's skin. Should gamers be worried, however, that increased emphasis on games from big chains such as HMV will hurt specialist retailers? Give us your thoughts in the Forum.

^{Source: The Sun}