2023-05-30 11:52:14 ET
Video games have been in strong demand in recent years that many relate to the COVID pandemic that restricted people to their homes and had them looking for whatever means of indoor entertainment they could possibly find.
But it’s safe to say that the trend is keeping its own even after the pandemic. Video games is now an industry that’s worth a whopping $300 billion and executives of the leading companies within this space like Take-Two Interactive, Tencent, Activision Blizzard, and even Microsoft Corporation ( NASDAQ: MSFT ) continue to bet on further upside moving forward.
Having said that, here are the top 40 interesting facts and statistics on the video gaming industry that’s contributing significantly to redefining entertainment for the modern world.
Video game stats – editor’s picks
- Video gaming industry is expected to grow at a CAGR of about 10% between 2022 and 2030
- Tencent is the world’s biggest video games publisher in terms of annual revenue
- Mobile gaming accounts for about half of the total annual gaming revenue worldwide
- Tetris is the best-selling video game of all time as per the data from IGN
- Digital downloads make up roughly 90% of all video games sold around the globe
- Gaming addiction is very real and is recognised as a public health crisis in South Korea
- Video games industry employs close to 270,000 people in the United States
General video game industry statistics
1. Gaming industry is expected to maintain a CAGR of 10%
In 2021, the gaming market worldwide was worth over $202 billion. Between 2022 and 2030, Grand View Research estimates the video games industry to expand at a CAGR (compound annual growth rate) of just over 10%.
2. Over 3 billion people will play video games in 2023
In 2015, the total number of people who actively played video games was capped at about 2 billion. The latest video game stats calls for that figure to surpass 3 billion and grow further by up to 320 million in 2024.
3. U.S. gaming market is worth over $100 billion
Video games is now a $107 billion market in the United States alone. In comparison, the industry was worth a little over $31 billion in 2012. In other words, the U.S. gaming market has stretched by more than three folds in a little over a decade.
4. China is the world’s biggest market for video games
In 2022, China generated just over $50 billion in revenue for the gaming space. That topped even the United States at $47.62 billion. Together, U.S. and China represent a gaming market that’s bigger than the next eight names combined.
5. Video games are more popular among adults
In the United States, about 65% of adults (more than 164 million) play video games, as per the data from Entertainment Software Association . The largest percentage of gamers (38%) are aged between 18 and 34.
6. Gaming is more popular among males
Globally, three in every five or about 59% of gamers are male. The percentage of female gamers have remained in the range of 38% and 48% over the past seventeen years.
7. Tetris is the best-selling video game of all time
Data from IGN dubs “Tetris” the best-selling video game of all time with over 520 million copies sold worldwide. It’s followed by other popular titles like “Minecraft” and the “Grand Theft Auto V”.
8. Video game subscriptions will grow by $700 million in 2023
Video game subscriptions were worth $7.8 billion globally in 2022. This year, they’re estimated to top $8.5 billion – a near 10% annualised growth, as per data from Statista .
9. Active steamers on Twitch.tv peaked in January 2021
Twitch.tv had a total of 9.89 million streamers in January of 2021 due in part to the COVID restrictions. In December 2022, the platform had 7.03 million – a much lower number of active streamers.
10. Gaming is a bigger industry than movies and music combined
Video games generated a revenue of well over $200 billion last year. In comparison, the global box office revenue was capped at only $26 billion as per the data from Gower Street Analytics .
Video game sales and console statistics
11. Home consoles to generate over $20 billion this year
According to Statista, video game consoles are expected to generate about $21.24 billion globally in 2023. That figure is estimated to climb by another 2.5% next year.
12. Xbox Live has more than 120 million users worldwide
Recent update from Microsoft itself confirms that Xbox Live now has over 120 million users globally. The tech behemoth also claimed more than 25 million subscribers worldwide on Game Pass.
13. Number of PlayStation Plus users have declined
PlayStation Plus had a little over 47 million subscribers as of March 2023. Interestingly, though, that represents a decline from its peak of 48 million in December of 2021 when the COVID restrictions were still ongoing.
14. Nintendo Switch is massively outperforming the Wii U
Nintendo Switch has sold well over 100 million units since its launch in March 2017. In comparison, Wii U – the company’s previous home video game console peaked in 2014 at 3.9 million units only.
15. PC remains a highly popular platform for gaming
Despite home video game consoles like the PlayStation or the Xbox One, PCs continue to be a top platform for gaming with about 63% of developers working on games for personal computers.
16. You can find over 50,000 video games on Steam
Steam continues to be an incredibly popular gaming platform. It now has more than 50,000 games to choose from across countless categories. Steam has been adding between 6,000 to 8,000 games every year since 2017.
17. Mario Kart 8 Deluxe leads in Nintendo Switch games
In March, Nintendo itself revealed Mario Kart 8 Deluxe as the best-selling game on “Switch”. The kart racing video game has sold over 62 million copies worldwide – handily beating Animal Crossing: New Horizons.
Mobile gaming facts and statistics
18. Mobile gaming makes up over 50% of total gaming revenue
Last year, mobile gaming generated $92.2 billion in revenue, representing 52% of total gaming revenue globally. That’s a significant leg up versus 2012 when it accounted for only 18% of the industry’s overall revenue.
19. PUBG was the most popular mobile game in 2021
PUBG or PlayerUnknown’s Battlegrounds gross just over $2.0 billion in 2021 – more than any other mobile game that year ( AppMagic ). Honor of Kings and Genshin Impact secured the second and third spot with $1.65 billion and $1.34 billion, respectively.
20. Online gaming revenue has surpassed $23 billion
In 2022, revenue from online gaming increased further to $23.56 billion and is expected to hit about $33 billion in 2027 suggesting growth in this category will continue even after the COVID pandemic.
21. Google dominates iOS in mobile game downloads
A total of 14.4 billion mobile games were downloaded globally in the first quarter of 2022. About 12.1 billion of those were attributed to Google Play and the remaining 2.3 billion only came from the Apple App Store.
22. Mobile games will soon be a $138 billion market
Mobile gaming is expected to be generating $138 billion in yearly revenue by 2025. In comparison, it brought in just over $92 billion in 2022. Android users spent 4.2 hours per day on games in 2020 as per Statista .
23. U.S. mobile gamers are okay with in-game ads
A Business of Apps report suggests that a whopping 82% of American mobile gamers prefer not to pay for mobile games just to get rid of the in-game advertisements. They would rather stick to free games with ads.
eSports and video game streaming stats
24. eSports now generates more than $1.0 billion in revenue
Globally, the eSports market is expected to bring in about $1.62 billion of annual revenue in 2024. That compares to nearly $1.1 billion it generated in 2021 following COVID driven weakness in 2020.
25. eSports now offer prizes worth more than $40 million
The International was cancelled in 2020 due to the pandemic. It then returned the next year with a prize pool that topped $40 million. That prize pool was worth $18.43 million only in 2015.
26. eSports audience worldwide will hit 500 million in 2024
In 2019, people who watched an eSports event totalled 398 million. That audience is expected to grow to 474 million in 2023 and be well above 500 million next year.
27. Revenue from free-to-play games is increasing exponentially
In 2018, F2P or free-to-play games generated nearly $59 billion in revenue (worldwide). According to Statista , that number is expected to come in at more than $83 billion this year – about a 40% growth in five years.
28. League of Legends tops the list of most streamed video games
On Twitch, League of Legends was the most streamed game in February 2023 amassing more than 110 million hours. Other popular names on that list include the GTA V and Counter-Strike: Global Offensive.
29. Casual single player games are the most popular across the globe
Nearly 88% of the participants in a 2021 survey said they played casual single player video games. Mobile games like Clash of Clans and Candy Crush were the most popular in this category.
30. Gamers now prefer buying video games online
According to ERA – the Entertainment Retail Association , physical sales made up roughly 10% of the video games sold in total last year. A whopping 90% (approx.) were digital downloads.
31. Surfshark is the top-rated VPN for gamers
PC Gamer has recently named Surfshark the best virtual private network for gamers interested in beating lag and insulating from DDoS attacks in 2023. It’s available in 65 countries and has more than 3,200 servers.
Other video game industry facts and stats
32. Gaming addiction is very real and on the rise
In the U.S., up to 1.0% of adults suffer from the Internet Gaming Disorder. That percentage is the highest in Iran at nearly 23%. IGD is a recognised public health crisis in South Korea.
33. Americans install an average of eight games per device
On average, people in the United States have about eight games installed on each of their devices. Hours they spend on games is known to grow by about 10% every year.
34. Video games as a family activity is on the rise
According to Entertainment Software Association, 55% of the parents in the United States played video games with their children at least once a week in 2020. That percentage now sits at about 75%.
35. Nearly half of U.S. gamers spend on in-app purchases
Data from Statista confirms that over 43% of U.S. mobile gamers spend on in-game purchases. Also noteworthy is that 22% of game developers worldwide use paid in-app currency to monetise their titles.
36. 9 out of 10 Australian households have a gaming device
In Australia, as many as 91% of the households have at least one type of video game device. Roughly half the gamers in the land down under are women. The average age of a gamer in Australia is 34.
37. VR gaming revenue will grow at a CAGR of 31.4%
VR gaming has been on a rise in recent years. It is currently worth $6.26 billion as per Fortune Business Insights and is expected to climb several folds to $53.44 billion by the year 2028.
38. Video game industry is a major employer in the U.S.
In total, the video game market employs close to 270,000 people in the United States. Employment growth in this industry has stood at 3.5% between 2018 and 2023, as per IBIS World.
39. Shooter games continue to be the most popular genre
Shooter has dominated all other genres of video games in the past five years. In the third quarter of 2022, 57% of gamers revealed to have played a shooter game over the past twelve months.
40. Tencent is the world’s biggest video games publisher
According to New Zoo, the Chinese entertainment conglomerate Tencent is currently the biggest video games publisher in the world with gaming revenue worth about $8.3 million. It’s followed by Sony on the second spot.
41. Cloud gaming will soon be a $7.0 billion market
Cloud gaming market revenue is expected to hit $18.71 billion in 2027, suggesting massive growth in the coming years from $4.34 billion it’s expected to bring in this year.
42. Johan Sundstein is the highest paid eSports players
N0tail – or Johan Sundstein of Denmark is currently the world’s highest-paid eSports player as per eSports Earnings. He’s earned a total of $7.4 million in prize money so far.
Conclusion
The facts and stats mentioned above make it evident that the video gaming industry is unlikely to see a meaningful slowdown now that we’re out of the COVID restrictions.
Yes, it’s already huge in size and has already established as the largest segment within the broader entertainment industry.
But thanks to new consoles like the PlayStation 5, new technologies like augmented or virtual reality , and new modes of playing such as cloud gaming, it’s almost a given that this market will continue to expand further in the coming years.
The post 42 video game industry statistics 2023: growth, consoles, mobile gaming and more appeared first on Invezz .
