This Year, 2.7 Billion Gamers Will Generate Game Revenues of $159.3 Billion

Console and PC Are Still on Track for Healthy Growth

Meanwhile, console gaming will grow +6.8% year on year to $45.2 billion, boasting over 729 million players. Engagement and revenues are set to grow due to the lockdown measures, at least in the short term, but COVID-19 is also having negative effects on console gaming.

Physical distribution, massive cross-company collaboration, and certification are a major part of console game development, which may result in game delays in the future or games scaling down scope or features to hit release windows.

In Q2, PlayStation 4 exclusives The Last of Us 2 and Ghost of Tshushima were already delayed due to distribution issues (resulting from the pandemic). Even ported games are affected, with Switch ports of The Outer Worlds and The Wonderful 101: Remastered also receiving COVID-19-related delays.

These delays will also impact the games scheduled to accompany the launch of next-generation consoles, as the development process for next-gen games was a relatively unknown quantity for developers—even before the pandemic.

Growth in the console market has slowed down significantly compared to the heights it reached in 2018. Anticipation for the next-gen consoles already led to lower-than-expected spending on console last year. Due mostly to this, we adjusted our 2019 global games market estimate to $145.7 billion.

While there is a short-term uplift this year due to the lockdown measurements, the next-gen consoles and associated content are essential to kickstart a new phase growth in that segment.

Finally, PC gaming, driven by its 1.3 billion players, will grow +4.8% year on year to $36.9 billion in 2020. This growth can be almost fully attributed to the lockdown measures. Unlike console gaming, new releases for PC rarely reach revenues that significantly change the market’s outlook.

Many of PC’s most popular games have been at their respective positions for at least three years, with some retaining popularity for over a decade.

What’s more, the PC ecosystem moved to digital (from physical) much quicker than console did, so physical distribution is almost a non-issue for PC. That said, the PC segment isn’t completely unaffected: PC titles are also getting delayed due to COVID-19, including the port of Death Stranding.

Across all three segments (PC, console, and mobile), almost half of consumer spending on games will come from China and the U.S. in 2020. However, growth will be driven by emerging markets in regions like Latin America and Asia-Pacific in the years to come.

What Is the Future Outlook for the Global Games Market?

The games market will continue to grow in the following years, exceeding $200 billion at the end of 2023. By then, we forecast the games market to grow with a +8.3% CAGR to $200.8 billion.

Due to the new generation of consoles, growth in console game revenues will steadily grow every year, although we do not foresee revenues reaching double-digit growth before five to six years into the launch. Mobile gaming will continue to be the fastest-growing segment overall.

Power Your Strategic Decisions with a Full View of the Global Games Market

Struggling to prioritize your global mobile strategy, optimize your app’s development, develop a realistic business plan, or increase your marketing ROI? Next month, we’re launching the 2020 edition of our Newzoo’s Global Games Market Report.

The annual subscription service includes quarterly trend and forecasting updates, as well as access to an online dashboard with continuously updated gamer and game revenue forecasts by country and segment.

The service is subscribed to by the majority of the world’s leading games, media, hardware, and entertainment companies. We also offer two similar services for the esports and mobile markets.