The gaming industry is today the largest entertainment industry in the world with more than 3 billion gamers globally. In 2022, the gaming industry is expected to generate revenues of around USD 196.8 billion, a year-over-year increase by 2.1 percent, according to Newzoo.
The global number of players playing games is expected to reach 3.2 billion players by year-end. The games market is expected to continue to grow in the coming years with an expected CAGR of 4.7 percent between 2020 to 2025. Newzoo expects the total global games market to exceed USD 225 billion by 2025.
The gaming industry is usually classified into three main categories – PC, mobile and console gaming.
Mobile gaming is the world’s most popular form of gaming. Newzoo expects mobile games to account for 53 percent of the total games market globally and generate revenues of USD 103.5 billion in 2022. According to Sensor Tower, worldwide player spending in mobile games declined by 6.6 percent year-over-year during the first half of 2022 to USD 44.1 billion, as mobile game spending has been impacted by both normalization after the surge during the pandemic as well as economic headwinds worldwide. Sensor Tower expects the growth rate to pick up towards the end of the year but expects worldwide App Store and Google Play user spending to be down by 2.3 percent in 2022. Although market data show that growth has slowed in 2022, Sensor Tower’s five-year market forecast still projects that global mobile game spending on App Store and Google Play will grow with a 5.6 percent CAGR to reach USD 117 billion in 2026.
Free-to-play (F2P) games are gaining market share
Stillfront’s games are predominantly within the Free-to-Play (F2P) segment. F2P games give gamers free access to games, as opposed to premium games which must be paid for prior to being played. The F2P business model relies upon three different levels of usage. The majority of the users are non-paying but can still be very dedicated to the game. The vast majority of the paying users spend small amounts for unlocking extra functions or purchasing digital currency to use within the game. A minority of the paying users are very dedicated, with gaming as their hobby, and spend much time and money on their favorite games.
The F2P model has successfully been applied to the browser game market for years and has now taken over the mobile market as well.
And everyone is playing
People across all age demographics play games. The average age of a gamer in the US is 33 years of age, according to the Entertainment Software Association, ESA, and 76 percent of gamers are above 18 years old. The number of female gamers has increased during the past years, and today 48% of US video game players identify as female and 52% identify as male.
