Newzoo’s report predicts that global gaming revenue will hit a record $203.1 billion this year while player numbers will reach an all-time high of 3.09 billion—or almost 40% of the world’s population.
Looking at individual countries, Newzoo believes that this year will see the US ($50.5 billion) edge ahead of China ($50.2 billion) in games revenue. The report puts this down to the stricter rules imposed on games in the Asian country; Chinese regulators last month approved the nation’s first video game license since July 2021. The Asia-Pacific region as a whole ($96.3 billion) remains way ahead of North America ($54.3 billion), with the former accounting for almost half of all the global gaming revenue, but North America is seeing about twice the yearly growth rate as the Asia-Pacific region. We’re also seeing rapid growth in the Middle East & Africa and Latin America.
Mobile gaming is also continuing to explode and is expected to pass the $100 billion mark this year for the first time. The $103.5 billion from mobile titles would make up more than half of worldwide games revenue.
Consoles are said to be responsible for much of this year’s non-smartphone growth, with more people grabbing Xbox Series X/S, PS5, and Switch consoles, although Nintendo’s machine could run into supply issues later in 2022. Console games revenue is expected to hit $58.6 billion, up 8.4% YoY, while PC games are predicted to increase 3.2% to $38.7 billion. Gaming seems to be one area that’s been immune to the post-pandemic slowdown, which has seen several big tech companies’ share prices fall, Netflix lose viewers, and websites make staff cutbacks.
