Giving a consecutive success rate of +2.1%, the global games market is riding up at a fast pace as we look at it from the revenue angle. It generated a whopping $196.8 billion in 2022 and is estimated to produce $225.7 billion by 2025, as per the Global Games Market Report issued by Newzoo. These are some very good numbers that offer a sharp edge to the gaming industry over other industries. Keeping in line with these trends, let’s bifurcate these numbers further on the basis of players and from which regions and segments the revenue may be generated.
Epic Growth in Gaming Numbers
- Players will expand from 2.9 billion in 2020 to 3.5 billion by 2025, a +4.2% CAGR. The latter two years (2020 and 2021) witnessed record-high involvement and expenditure, with many new and lapsed gamers returning to the gaming arena.
- Mobile gaming industry will produce $103.5 billion in 2022 (53% of the market), a 5.1% increase. The PC market will rise 1.6% annually to $40.4 billion. The console market will drop 2.2% to $52.9 billion, or 27% of the worldwide industry.
- North America’s games market will expand +0.5% to $51.3 billion in 2022, while Europe’s will shrink (-0.03%) to $34.1 billion. Strong mobile growth and, to a lesser extent, modest PC growth offset a significant overall fall.
- Middle East and Africa will expand 10.8% to $7.1 billion in 2022, and Latin America will rise 6.9% to $8.7 billion. Mobile-first markets stay unaffected by console’s decline.
- These trends showcases a promising future for the gaming industry, indicating a healthy growth in the post-pandemic world, a little slower than before though.
Gamers in Post-pandemic World
The pandemic is not gone, although limitations have been eased in many nations. Because of this, customers are no longer restricted to their houses and may partake in activities that were not previously possible due to COVID-19. Despite this, many people build strong attachments with video games throughout their early years. When the epidemic fades, there are better chances that the games market will continue to develop even in mature regions like North America and Europe, because of gaming’s stickiness and less-hit-driven nature.
The console market will drop 2.2% to $52.9 billion, or 27% of the worldwide industry.
There will be a substantial growth in the number of players as there will addition of new players by 2025, estimating the numbers to reach 3.2 billion, as per the report mentioned above. In 2022 and beyond, much of this expansion will be driven by growing regions including Latin America, the Middle East, and Africa.
Better (mobile) internet infrastructure, more cheap access to (mobile) internet, and an expanding middle class are all contributing to player development in these regions. We expect player numbers to expand even in the face of inflation because of the free-to-play model, the increasing number of smartphone owners, and the relevance of applications in developing economies.
Stay tuned to iLLGaming for more such in-depth insights into the gaming industry.
