Newzoo: the turnover of the global video game market will break the $200 billion mark for the first time in 2023
Google together with Newzoo have prepared a large study of the global video game market. This year, the industry will slow down its growth slightly, but in 2023 its turnover will exceed the $200 billion mark for the first time. Analysts also talked about key trends and how the audience of video games in the world is changing.The study is based on Newzoo data and responses from 16,900 respondents from four main regions:
- North America — USA only;Latin America — Brazil and Mexico;
- EMEA — Russia, Finland, Israel, Poland, Turkey, Ukraine and the United Kingdom;
- Asia-Pacific region — mainland China, Japan, India, South Korea, Taiwan and Vietnam.
- Revenue forecasts
In 2021, the turnover of the global video game market will decrease for the first time in history.
- It will amount to $175.8 billion, which is 1.13% less than the record in 2020.Mobile will account for 52% of all global revenue — $90.7 billion.
- The Asia-Pacific region will show the largest turnover at the end of the year — $88.2 billion.
- Next will be North America ($42.6 billion), Europe ($31.5 billion), Latin America ($7.2 billion) and the Middle East and Africa ($6.3 billion).Distribution of revenue by region
Analysts expect that for the first time the gaming industry will overcome the $200 billion milestone in 2023.
- Already next year, the turnover of the global video game market will amount to $218.7 billion.Projected revenue of the gaming industry until 2024
Key user data
By the end of 2021, there will be about 3 billion gamers in the world.
- Most of them are concentrated in Asia — 1.615 billion (55% of the total). Next are the Middle East and Africa (15%), Europe (14%), Latin America (10%) and North America (7%).In 2020, 173 million new players came to gaming and those who had previously abandoned this hobby for some reason and decided to return.
- Distribution of players by region
At the same time, 53% of new and returning players are women.
- It is worth noting that among already experienced gamers, the proportion of women is 46%.Experienced gamers spend the most money on games.
- 42% of them started spending more time in games from February 2020 to May 2021.78% of experienced users pay for games or make purchases in them.
- For new and returning gamers, this figure is 73%.65-70% of new and returning gamers are ready to spend the same amount of time on games after the end of the pandemic.
- This will lead to a steady increase in user engagement.30% of all players expressed a desire to consume more content related to streaming and esports.
- Gender distribution of players
New trends
In 2021, subscription services became the second most popular category of gaming expenses in North America, Latin America and EMEA.
- More PC, console and cloud gaming users in these regions spend only on purchases of premium titles.Analysts expect that in 2021, the console industry will earn $7.5 billion on subscriptions — an increase of 22.9% year-on-year.
- At the same time, in 2024, the revenue of this segment will exceed $ 10 billion.Projected revenue from gaming subscriptions until 2024
Games become a convenient tool for socialization.
- According to forecasts, by the end of 2021, the number of people using online titles for communication will increase by 18%.Due to lockdowns and pandemics, more and more users are trying to reproduce real-world activities in games.
- According to analysts, this led to the popularization of the concept of the metaverse*.*Newzoo understands by this term “virtual and constantly active game worlds that open up new creative spaces and units for creating new types of social interaction.”
- Such demand forces developers to introduce elements from the real world into platform games – concerts, events, exhibitions, etc. Events in Fortnite, Roblox and Minecraft attract millions of active users, some of whom have not been interested in video games before.The number of viewers of promo events in Fortnite, Minecraft and Roblox on Twitch and YouTube
Analysts also note that the pandemic has contributed to the development of previously outlined trends:
- the growth of interest in watching streams and other content on the topic of video games — by the end of 2021, the audience of game streams will reach 728.8 million people;cross—platform and the desire to reach the maximum audience on all platforms – Call of Duty conquers mobile, Asphalt racing franchise comes to Xbox, and Genshin Impact becomes one of the highest-grossing games in the world;
- the growing popularity of cloud gaming and the development of related technologies — by the end of 2021, over 23 million users worldwide will spend $1.4 billion on this segment.
