Category: Statistics

A decade ago, no one would have ever thought that mobile gaming would be where it’s at right now. Mobile games back then were nothing more than just something to pass the time with on the subway, or when you get bored reading your book on a flight.

Now things are different. Different mobile gaming statistics are showing that the segment contributes the most revenue to the video game industry. In the USA alone last year, the digital video games revenue was at $41.49 billion. $35 billion off that revenue was generated by the mobile gaming industry. This year, the mobile gaming industry is expected to generate $41.7 billion in revenue alone, more than the entire video game revenue for the entire year of 2021 (1).

But what else are the mobile gaming statistics showing for the USA and on a global scale? How many people play mobile games on a weekly or daily basis? How much are people spending on mobile games?

We’ll get those questions answered, and more in this article.

Key Mobile Game Industry Statistics

• Genshin Impact is the highest earning mobile Gacha game, earning $567 million for Q1 2022, followed by Lineage W with $272 million (28).
• APAC , Americas, EMEA, and Korea are the biggest regions with the highest share of revenue generated through in app purchases or IAP (29).
• The mobile game revenue share of the entire video gaming industry is 57% (3).
• The mobile games market value in North America is $25.2 billion (3).
• F2P games or free to play games generated a revenue of $13.2 billion in North America (3).
• The mobile games market value globally is $131.2 billion by the end of 2021, and is expected to be valued at $140.2 billion b the end of 2022 (4).
• More than 209. million people are playing games on their mobile phones in the USA (17).
• More than half of mobile gamers (57%) are male gamers, while 42.9% of the mobile gamers are female gamers in the USA (18).
• Tencent Mobile is the biggest game app publisher in terms of revenue and mobile-game downloads with $580 million and 53 million downloads, respectively as of April 2022. (23),(24).

Mobile Game Statistics Around The World

• As of 2021, there was a total of 82.9 billion game downloads (2).
• The same year, consumer spending on games reached $116 billion (2).
• In the Apple App store alone, there are more than 4.7 million apps and games available for download
• The mobile gaming share of revenue for the entire gaming industry is 57% (3).
• The market value of mobile gaming content in North America is $25.2 billion (3).
• Revenue generated by F2P mobile gaming in North America reached $13.2 billion (3).
• Mobile gaming market value worldwide is worth $131.2 billion as of 2021. It’s projected to be worth $140.2 by the end of 2022 (4).
• In 2026, the market value for mobile gaming will reach $173.4 billion, which is a 200% increase in revenue after 15 years (in 2011, mobile gaming market value was only at $8.6 billion) (4).
• The RPG (role-playing game) genre generated the highest revenue for the mobile gaming industry in 2019 and 2020 ($18.3 and $19.1 billion respectively), followed by the Strategy genre ($11.71 billion for 2019, and $15.1 billion for 2020) (5).
• United States generated the highest revenue share for the mobile gaming industry for three years running (2019,2020,2021) at 26%, 28%, and 29% respectively. Japan follows in second place with 23%, 22%, and 21$ for 2019,2020, and 2021 respectively (7).

Japan and United States will continue to generate the highest revenue share this year. In Q1 of 22, revenue share for the United States alone is at 27% and Japan with 20%. That means these two regions will almost have earned more revenue for mobile gaming than the rest of the regions combined for this year alone.

Mobile Gaming Statistics for Apps (Apple Store and Google Play)

• Google Play dominates Apple App Store over number of mobile game downloads for Q1 2022. Google Play recorded 12.1 billion downloads, while Apple App Store only had 2.3 billion (6).
• In 2021, Roblox generated the highest number of downloads with 41 million, followed by Project Makeover and Among Us with 33 million and 32 million, respectively (8).
• King is the top game app publisher according to revenue in the Android or Google Play Store, generating $18.67 billion in revenue as of June 2022. King is also the top game app publisher in the Apple App Store, generating $12.24 billion in revenue the same year (9).
• As of June 2022, the top gaming apps from the Google App Store in terms of daily active users are Subway Surfers, Clash of Clans, and Candy Crush Saga. Subway Surfers has 2.3 million DAU (daily active users), while Clash of Clans has 1.87 million DAU, and Candy Crush Saga with 1.4 DAU (10).
• In contrast, the top gaming apps from the Apple App Store in terms of DAU or daily active users are Subway Surfers, Roblox, and statistics from Minecraft with 715,378, 448,186, and 198,870, respectively (10).

Just imagine, people building Minecraft houses on their mobile devices.

Mobile Gaming Demographics for In-Game Spending And Ad Revenue

• Despite the title, Free-To-Play games or F2P games are the highest monetizing games globally as of 2021 (11). It doesn’t matter if these games are played online or not.
• In the USA alone, IAP or in-app purchases of virtual goods has the highest revenue share for 2020,2021, and 2022 compared to revenue generated by subscriptions (12).
• The top mobile games that have the highest consumer spend in Q4 2020 are Arena of Valor, PUBG Mobile, and Pokemon Go (13).
• Gaming apps have the highest consumer spending recorded amongst mobile app categories for three quarters of 2021 (14).
• Tencent Mobile is the biggest game app publisher in terms of revenue with $580 million in in-app purchases and mobile game downloads with 53 million for April 2022 (23),(24).

Mobile games are free to download and free to access, but don’t be fooled into thinking that these gaming companies aren’t earning a single cent from their users. The gaming statistics have shown and proven that people have spent more money on mobile gaming apps than on any other apps on mobile phones (Entertainment apps, food and drinks apps, etc.) (14).

How Many Gamers Are There Worldwide?

• There are 2.96 billion gamers worldwide as of 2021. By the end of 2022, the projected population for gamers worldwide will be 3.09 billion (15).
• Asia Pacific has the highest share of gamers in the region, with 55% of the gaming population (16).
• In the USA alone, there are 209.5 million people who play mobile games (17).
• 57% of mobile gamers are male and 42.9% are female gamers in the USA (18).
• 43% of smartphone use is for gaming (19), and 62% of people who get new phones will download at least one game within a week after purchase (19).
• China’s mobile game actual sales revenue for 2021 was 225.54 billion Yuan (or US$33 billion) (20).
• China is also leading in video games sales revenue worldwide with $56.92 billion for this year alone, followed by the United States with $55.28 billion (21).
• There are 656 million mobile gamers in China as of 2021 (22).

It’s worth noting that the number of gamers, (PC gamers, mobile gamers, and console gamers) skyrocketed during the on-set of the Covid-19 Pandemic. Several gaming statistics have shown dramatic increases in gaming population on all fronts and segments due to the pandemic.

During the lockdowns, people took to gaming to entertain themselves and to socialize with other people. But even before the pandemic started, the mobile gaming industry was the dominant segment of the video game industry in terms of revenue generated. In 2020, mobile games generated $73.8 billion in revenue, followed by F2P PC games with $22.3 billion and premium console games with $17.8 billion (25). Even if you combine the revenue for the other segments, mobile games still have the highest revenue by a margin. This was proof that mobile games really took off during the time of the Covid-19 pandemic, and the gaming statistics can also prove this claim.

Key Mobile Gaming Statistics For Global Market

• In 2020, 45% of the video game industry’s entire revenue came from mobile gaming revenue (26).
• 51% of the market share for the global games market comes from smartphone games and tablet games (mobile games in general) (27).
• Genshin Impact is the highest earning mobile Gacha game for Q1 2022 with $567 million. This is followed by Lineage W with $272 million and Usuma Musume Pretty Derby with $236 million (28).
• APAC (Asia and Pacific), Americas, EMEA, and Korea have the highest share of revenue for IAP (in-app purchases) in mobile games (29).
• 22% of video game publishers use their own in-game currency as a way to monetize their games (30).
• 45% of video game publishers monetize their games by using the “pay to download” business model. This meant you had to purchase the game first before you can access them (30).

Mobile Game Industry Analysis and Trends

Play-To-Earn is a Growing Segment

P2E or Play-To-Earn is the most popular business model compared to pay-to-play and free-to-play. Mobile games such as Axie Infinity have allowed people to earn money just by playing their game.

Axie Infinity made the headlines back in the early 2020s when mobile gamers from the Philippines are reportedly earning six-figure income just by playing games (31). The premise of the game was simple. Axie Infinity had you composing a team of three pets and having them fight with other players.

With their tournament system and their single-player features, Axie Infinity allowed players to generate and collect SLP or Smooth Love Potion, which was the game’s cryptocurrency. Players earned these tokens for trade when they accumulated enough in the market. Game developers down the line were quick to see what Sky Mavis was doing with Axie Infinity, and more games offering cryptocurrency/NFTs followed soon after.

These mobile games are developed with blockchain technology, so the income generated by their players is sent straight to their cryptocurrency wallets. Players can even use these currencies to trade or sell whenever they want. However, P2E business model is still relatively new and the 0bstacles and challenges have yet to be really discovered.

Getting Your Brand Out Is Always The Key To Success in Mobile Gaming

There’s no open secret with this claim. A company that doesn’t get their brand out will never be able to succeed, and the mobile gaming publishers are proof that they have to get one foot in the door or else.

We take a look at a certain game like Raid: Shadow Legends, developed by Plarium. You might have heard about the game once or twice from your favorite Youtuber or Twitch Streamer. The premise was simple. Raid: Shadow Legends awarded their influencers with in-game rewards when people use their redemption codes. And the awards from each code were also very enticing for the mobile gamers, so you’re always incentivized to be on the lookout for these codes. However, their aggressive marketing and branding have also turned them into one of the biggest memes in gaming platforms.

What are they doing right here? Now, Raid: Shadow Legends isn’t as big as Genshin Impact or Roblox or any of the paid mobile games. Their player-base isn’t nearly as impressive either. In the USA, only 5% of their mobile gaming population play Raid: Shadow Legends (32).

But what made Raid: Shadow Legends one of the biggest names in mobile gaming industry is how they marketed themselves. They reached out to big streamers and YouTube content creators to promote the game, even if they didn’t play the same gaming platform (mobile devices). They had these insane codes that gave you free in-game currency, boosts, and even new heroes. And of course, people ended up becoming curious with the game itself and started to download and get into the game.

Now, mobile game advertisers are following what Raid: Shadow Legends did and have reached out to bigger influencers and celebrities.

Top Mobile Games Right Now

Garena Free Fire bags the number #1 spot as the most downloaded mobile game as of January 2022, coming in with 24 million installs (which was a 51.6% increase from Jan 2021). India also happened to be the country with the most installs for this time period, accounting for 25.5% of total downloads. Brazil comes in a close second with 11.7%.

Subway Surfer is the second most installed game, coming in with 23.7 million installs. Mobile gamers from India accounted for the highest number of downloads at 20.7%, followed by mobile gamers from the USA at 7%.

What’s The Next Step for Mobile Gaming?

The mobile gaming statistics have shown and proven just how big the industry is, and how fast it is currently growing. Mobile games revenue globally and regionally are still higher compared to other segments (PC gaming and console gaming). Free mobile games will also continue to earn more money within the next few years, as seen with the mobile gaming industry statistics.

Mobile games are being downloaded mostly because they’re casual games in nature. They don’t require a lot of commitment to begin with, and you don’t really spend a lot of time playing mobile games as you would with PC or gaming consoles. People played mobile games just to pass the time or when there’s nothing to do. This behavior was amplified during the Covid-19 Pandemic.

Puzzle games like Candy Crush: Saga are just some examples of how these casual games are dominating the market right now because of the number of active mobile gamers worldwide for that game alone. Casino games and Gacha games are also quite popular with mobile gamers because they give you the gambling fix that you need.

(1) https://www.statista.com/statistics/455655/digital-game-revenue-category-digital-market-outlook-usa/

(2) https://www.data.ai/en/go/state-of-mobile-2022

(3) https://www.statista.com/topics/1906/mobile-gaming/#dossierContents__outerWrapper

(4) https://www.statista.com/statistics/292512/mobile-contents-market-value-worldwide/

(5) https://www.statista.com/statistics/260157/mobile-gaming-revenue-worldwide/

(6) https://www.statista.com/statistics/661553/global-app-stores-mobile-game-downloads/

(7) https://www.statista.com/statistics/256673/global-mobile-game-revenue-by-region/

(8) https://www.statista.com/statistics/1285048/us-top-gaming-apps-by-downloads/

(9) https://www.statista.com/statistics/691547/leading-iphone-games-publishers-us-revenue/

(10) https://www.statista.com/statistics/266932/top-mobile-games-google-play-android-usa-dau/

(11) https://create.unity3d.com/2021-game-report

(12) https://www.statista.com/statistics/1317223/us-iap-gaming-subscription-virtual-goods/

(13) https://www.businessofapps.com/data/app-revenues/#6

(14) https://www.statista.com/statistics/1272175/quarterly-us-app-consumer-spending-by-category/

(15) https://www.statista.com/statistics/748044/number-video-gamers-world/

(16) https://www.statista.com/statistics/297874/number-mobile-gamers-region/

(17) https://www.digitalturbine.com/insight/gen-z-born-into-digital-gamers-by-choice/

(18) https://www.statista.com/outlook/dmo/digital-media/video-games/mobile-games/united-states#users

(19) https://techjury.net/blog/mobile-gaming-statistics/#gref

(20) https://www.statista.com/statistics/445403/mobile-game-revenue-in-china/

(21) https://www.statista.com/statistics/308454/gaming-revenue-countries/

(22) https://www.statista.com/statistics/310208/china-number-of-mobile-gamers/

(23) https://www.statista.com/statistics/1209529/china-gaming-app-publishers-by-revenue/

(24) https://www.statista.com/statistics/1209575/china-gaming-app-publishers-by-download-number/

(25) https://www.statista.com/statistics/379682/digital-games-revenue-distribution-category-usa/

(26) https://newzoo.com/insights/articles/newzoo-games-market-numbers-revenues-and-audience-2020-2023

(27) https://www.statista.com/statistics/298403/global-video-games-revenue-segment/

(28) https://www.statista.com/statistics/1308503/gacha-game-mobile-gross/

(29) https://www.statista.com/statistics/674332/mobiel-games-usage-monetization-models/

(30) https://www.statista.com/statistics/1183087/game-developers-business-models/

(31) https://www.cnbc.com/2021/05/14/people-in-philippines-earn-cryptocurrency-playing-nft-video-game-axie-infinity.html

(32) https://www.statista.com/statistics/515389/usa-reach-popular-mobile-games/

(33) https://sensortower.com/blog/top-mobile-games-worldwide-january-2022-by-downloads/

A couple of decades ago, give or take 30 years or so, you’d probably never imagine the video game industry flouring as it is today. No one would probably think of playing video games as a full-time and a lucrative career 30 years ago.

Back then, video games were only enjoyed by young gamers, mostly male. It was uncommon to see women gamers who play video games, be in in the arcade or at home. That’s all changed now with the advent of certain technologies that make it possible for anyone to play video games.

We’re talking about better graphics cards, better chipsets, and even better hardware philosophies that allow for smaller devices such as phones to become platforms for mobile gaming. Anyone can play video games in this day and age.

There’s no doubt that video gaming has become a hobby with so much diversity. If you don’t believe this statement, you might be shocked to find out just how diverse the gaming population is in this article.

Key Statistics

• There are 3.09 billion active video game consumers, or video gamers, around the world. In 2015, there were only 2.03 billion gamers. In a span of seven years, the population for video gamers increased by about a billion (2).
• Out of the 3 billion gamers worldwide, only 48% are into PC gaming, 8% are into console gaming,
• In 2020, the video game industry accounted for 2.5 billion people playing mobile games, 1.3 billion playing PC games, and 800 million playing on game consoles (6).
• In 2022, it’s projected that smartphone games will generate the highest revenue in the video game industry, earning $91.4 billion for the mobile phone segment. Console games will come in second with $58.6 billion and boxed/downloaded PC games will come in third at $38.7 billion.
• In the USA, the average age of gamers falls between the 35-44 age group, or roughly 38% of their gaming population (8).
• 26% of gamers in the USA are between the ages of 35 and 54, while 21% are under the age of 18 (8).
• Gamers from Germany spend the most number of hours every week playing video games at 6.92 hours. Gamers from the UK come in second place with 6.89 hours every week, and Japanese gamers spend 6.64 hours (7).
• 26% of their gamers are aged between 35 and 54 years old, and 21% fall under the age of 18 years (8).
• In Germany, gamers spent an average of 6.92 hours every week just playing video games, then UK gamers come to a close second with 6.89 hours, and Japan with 6.64 hours (7).
• In the USA, 59% of their gaming population are male gamers, while 41% are female gamers (8) as of 2020. This margin has slimmed down to 51%-41%, in favor of male gamers, as of 2022.

How Many Gamers Are There In The World?

One report cited that there were close to 3.1 billion gamers, or global video game consumers, in the entire world in mid-2020 (1). That number isn’t far off, actually. At the end of 2020, there were 2.8 billion gamers around the world. By the end of 2021, that number grew to 2.96 billion. End of 2022, it’s reported that the number of gamers could reach 3.09 billion (2).

Give or take, the global population sits at 7.96 billion (3). That means 38% of the global population are gamers, regardless of platform.

Out of the 3 billion gamers around the world, only 8% are into console gaming. 48% of the gamer demographics are PC gamers (4).

Of those nearly 3.1 billion players, only about 8% are dedicated console consumers, but this group has the highest per-user spending. Now it goes without saying that the numbers might be higher since gamers tend to use more than one platform. They might own a PC, gaming console, and a mobile phone at any given time.

Video Game Demographics on Ethnicity

• In 2020, 54% of the gaming population are from the Asia Pacific, 14% come from the Middle East and Africa (MENA), and 14% from Europe. North America only accounts for 8% of the gaming population (4).
• In Germany, gamers spent an average of 6.92 hours every week just playing video games, then UK gamers come to a close second with 6.89 hours, and Japan with 6.64 hours (7).
• In terms of global gaming revenue, North America will generate the highest at $62.3 billion for this year, followed by China/Far East at $59 billion, and West Europe with $45 billion.

Popularity of Video Games

It goes without saying that the increase of players in the gamer demographics can be traced back to the Pandemic. With global lockdowns being implemented back in 2020 and 2021, people took to playing video games to entertain themselves, or to socialize with other people.

But that’s just one factor. Video games are growing in popularity because influential people are now starting to reveal to the world that they’re gamers. People like Henry Cavill and Terry Crews both made the headlines in 2020 when they recorded themselves assembling their own gaming rig.

Though it’s not really surprising to hear about celebrities and athletes who play video games, there are a handful who are particularly open about how they play games when they’re not doing anything. It was rumored that Henry Cavill missed the casting call for an important role because he was heavily involved in playing World of Warcraft at the time.

Pandemic-wise, 55% of the video gaming demographics mentioned they increased their game time during the pandemic, and 90% of them mentioned that they will most likely continue to play games even after lockdowns have subsided and social distancing is less restrictive (8).

Gaming Demographics

Gaming Demographics by Age

• The average age for gamers in the USA is 35 to 44 years old or 38% of their gaming population (8).
• 26% of their gamers are aged between 35 and 54 years old, and 21% fall under the age of 18 years (8).
• Gamers between the ages of 26 and 35 spend the highest number of hours in a week playing video games, which is at 7.5 hours. Gamers over 60 years old spend the least time at 4.7 hours a week (7).
• 16.4% of players in the 18-25 age group said they play video games while working, while 7.8% of players aged 60 and up also say the same thing (7).
• 42% of video game console players and PC players in the UK, Sweden, France, US, Germany, and Poland are between the ages of 23 and 38. 20% are from Gen X (aged 16 to 22 years), and 19% are from Gen Alpha (or aged 10 to 15) (10).

What are the numbers telling us?

The numbers are telling us that the gamer stereotype where a teenager or young child only plays video games is long gone. We’re now seeing a shift towards people who’ve grown up playing video games as a kid in the 80s and turning into avid video gamers in their adult lives.

Gaming Demographics by Gender

• In the USA, 59% of the gaming population are male, while 41% are female (8).
• Male gamers spend 51 minutes during the weekdays playing video games for leisure, while female gamers only spend 29 minutes (11).
• Female gamers spend $359 on average for game accessories and DLCs (downloadable content), while male gamers spent $335 for the same items (12).

The gaming industry has close to 3.1 billion gamers around world. The gamer demographics have shifted from a male-dominated industry to an almost-even populace. Male and female gamers from varying age groups don’t have a large discrepancy in terms of population, which makes the gamer demographics very interesting.

Average Income of Gamers

Unfortunately, there are no official published statistics for average income of gamers worldwide. Part of the gamer demographics in terms of average income will still focus on gamers from the USA.

Here’s what the numbers are telling us:

• US civilians between the ages of 25 and over, with at least a college or associate’s degree, spend 35 minutes on average playing video games on weekdays for leisure. High school graduates with no college degrees spend 33 minutes on average on the weekdays (11).
• Gamers who only have one job (or single-job holders) and earn $50 to $650 weekly spend 40 minutes on weekdays on average playing video games. Gamers from the same category earning $1,621 and up spend only 15 minutes on the weekdays for the same activities (11).
• As of 2020, 17.91% of gamers in the United States earn between $0 to $9,999 annually. 15.25% earn between $10,000 and $19,999, while 17.16% earn $29,000 annually (13).
• 51% of mobile gamers in America with Master’s Degrees play games at least once to several times in a day (14).
• 18% of mobile gamers earn a household income of $50,000 to $99,000 a year, while 17% fall under $50,000 (14).
• 16% of occassional gamers earn $100,000 to $149,000 for household income, while 14% earn $140,000 to $199,000 (14).
• 54% of committed people who play mobile games have at least post-graduate education, while 19% of gamers have gone to, or completed, trade school (14).

From the numbers, people who play video games in one form or another come from lower-income range. But the data for people who play mobile games say otherwise. Committed mobile gamers, or those who’ve spent money on mobile games or invested a lot of time already, come from the medium income households.

Game Genre Statistics

• 54% of players aged 18 and up prefer to play with teammates, or as part of a team, against other teams, while 33% of gamers in the USA prefer multiplayer/online gaming as opposed to single player gaming (15).
• 58% of female gamers in the 35-54 age group prefer to play with their friends, while 81% of female gamers aged 65 and up prefer playing alone (8).
• 68% of male gamers between the ages of 18 and 34 in the USA prefer to play with their friends, while 77% of male gamers aged 65 above prefer to play video games on their own (8).
• 63.6% of US gamers prefer to download their video games, while 26.6% prefer physical copies. 6.1% of gamers in the USA prefer to trade games with another gamer or trade it in for another game at a retail store (17).
• 87% of gamers in the USA buy DLCs or downloadable content. 20% have a monthly budget for purchasing DLC’s (12).
• 52% of gamers in the USA buy content to play competitively, while 70% think that level of play is more competitive if they can afford more DLC (12). Meanwhile, 62% of gamers spend money on game expansion packs (12).

Video Game Players Are About to Be More Diverse

Analysts have already pointed out that the number of female gamers will slowly increase within the next few years, but that’s just part of the reason why the gaming population and the entire video game demographics will become more diverse than ever.

The gaming industry has three billion players worldwide, and it’s no surprise that the video game industry is a billion-dollar industry. More video games are released by developers on all platforms, from PC games to console games to mobile games. The prices of GPUs have begun to decline, so you might be seeing more people becoming motivated in investing in building a PC to play games.

Even with countries relaxing their social distancing restrictions and opening up again, the gaming world will still face an influx of gamers from all corners of the world. You’ll see parents play video games together with their kids, or even the sturdiest academic play casual games from time to time. Playing a video game ins no longer something that nerds and geeks and the younger population enjoy. It’s now enjoyed by different age groups, and the gaming market is now accommodating these newly entered video game demographics.

References

(1) https://www.dfcint.com/product/video-game-consumer-segmentation-2/

(2) https://www.statista.com/statistics/748044/number-video-gamers-world/

(3) https://www.worldometers.info/world-population/#:~:text=World%20Population%20Clock%3A%207.96%20Billion%20People%20(2022)%20%2D%20Worldometer

(4) https://sea.ign.com/news/162757/three-billion-people-worldwide-now-play-video-games-new-report-shows

(5) https://www.dfcint.com/product/video-game-consumer-segmentation-2/

(6) https://newzoo.com/insights/articles/newzoo-games-market-numbers-revenues-and-audience-2020-2023/

(7) https://edg.io/resources/

(8) https://www.theesa.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/07/2020-ESA_Essential_facts_070820_Final_lowres.pdf

(9) https://www.forbes.com/sites/tomokoyokoi/2021/03/04/female-gamers-are-on-the-rise-can-the-gaming-industry-catch-up/?sh=4eae3c31f9fe

(10) https://newzoo.com/insights/articles/gaming-peripheral-consumer-insights-data-on-gen-z-millennials-and-gen-x/

(11) https://www.bls.gov/news.release/atus.t11b.htm

(12) https://blog.treasuredata.com/blog/2019/11/20/tricked-out-gamers-ready-to-play-and-pay/

(13) https://fherehab.com/news/video-game-addiction-statistics/

(14) https://www.adcolony.com/blog/2020/09/10/the-modern-mobile-gamer-a-study-of-everything/

(15) https://www.facebook.com/fbgaminghome/marketers/find-new-players/advertising-hub/gaming-marketing-insights-2021

(16) https://www.adcolony.com/blog/2020/09/10/the-modern-mobile-gamer-a-study-of-everything/

(17) https://www.limelight.com/resources/white-paper/state-of-online-gaming-2019/

Ever since the Pandemic, people have lost the opportunity to socialize and to network. Trapped within the confines of their own homes, their only escape was to play video games and interact with other people online.

And it’s no wonder why the online gaming industry has been predicted to be worth $79 billion by the year 2025. But what else are the numbers showing for online gaming statistics? How many people are playing video games online right now? We’ll answer all of those questions and more in this article.

Key Statistics

• More than 3 billion people are playing video games worldwide (1).
• Digital games revenue account for 83% of video game sales (2).
• Consumer spending in the US alone skyrocketed to $60.4 billion in 2021 (3),(4).
• Free-to-play games account for 85% of all gaming revenue globally (5),(6) .
• There was a total of 14.1 billion mobile game downloads during the first quarter of 2021.
• The PC gaming sector is expected to generate $46.7 billion in revenue by 2025.
• Nintendo is the largest company in the video game industry with a net worth of $85 billion (7).
• 22% of people who play online spend 61% to 80% of their time playing multiplayer video games (8).

An Overview of the Online Gaming Industry

Highlights of video game industry statistics that explain the growth of the online gaming industry:

• The Gaming Market currently has a value of $198.4 billion as of 2021, and is expected to hit $339.95 billion by the end of 2027, citing a 8.94% CAGR between 2022 and 2027 (9).
• 4.95 billion people all over the world use the Internet, which is 62.5% of the entire global population (10).
• 63.1% of Internet users between the ages of 16 and 64 own a laptop or computer (10).
• 20.3% of Internet users between the ages of 16 and 64 own a gaming console (10).
• 96.2% of Internet users between the ages of 16 and 64 own a smart phone, while 34.8% own a tablet (10).
• 4.8% of Internet users between the ages of 16 and 64 own a VR device (10).
• An average of 6.58 hours was spent using the Internet for people between the ages of 16 and 64 (10).
• An average of 1.12 hours was spent playing video games online on a console (10).

When countries implemented nationwide lockdowns because of the pandemic, a lot of people, gamers and non-gamers alike, took to video games to spend time with friends and to ride the tide of the Pandemic.

Several video gaming platforms generated hundreds and thousands of new users and online traffic, with several video game companies experiencing a spike in player count and revenue for 2020 and 2021.

What’s The Current Online Gaming Behavior of Users?

Positive experiences were reported by US gamers while playing video games online, citing the common experiences as follows (11):

• Helping other people, or receiving help
• Making new friends
• Felt a sense of belongingness within a gaming community
• Discovered new interests
• Learned interesting topics

On the other side of the spectrum, negative experiences were just as common when playing video games online. According to a survey, these were the common forms of harassments in the gaming industry (12):

• Being called offensive names
• Targeted by trolling or griefing
• Personally embarrassed
• Discrimination
• Physical threats

Gamers who were on the receiving end of harassments experienced the following (13):

• Feeling upset after playing
• Feeling less social or isolated
• Contacted the game company to report the harassment
• Had depressive or suicidal thoughts
• Personal relationships disrupted
• Called the cops/authorities

Surely, playing video games online is not without its risks. While the upside of forming bonds with strangers from around the world is the biggest draw of playing online games, video gaming harassment is equally prevalent in online multiplayer games.

Another risk in playing online games is gaming addiction, and there have been several studies already exploring the complexities and downsides of being an online gamer, or just as a PC gamer in general. It’s worth noting that gaming addiction has been added to the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual For Mental Disorders-V (DSM-V) by the American Psychiatric Association (19).

According to the DSM-V, Internet gaming must cause “significant distress or impairment” in a person’s life, but this condition is only limited to the gambling aspect of gaming. It doesn’t necessarily include Internet usage, social media use, and smartphone use.

The proposed symptoms for Internet gaming disorder (or gaming addiction) are as follows:

• Experiencing withdrawal symptoms when gaming or Internet is taken away or not possible (irritability, sadness, anxiety)
• Spending more time to play video games to satisfy the urge
• Inability to quit or reduce time playing video games
• Giving up of other activities, or loss of interest to other activities enjoyed prior to taking up gaming
• Lying to family members about time spent playing video games
• Playing video games to relieve negative emotions such as hopelessness, feelings of depression, or guilt
• Lost a job or relationship because of gaming

Internet gaming disorder, together with caffeine use disorder, is still subject to further research. But even without these conditions, gambling remains to be one of the biggest problem for the global console market, and now several governments are taking up arms to regulate the video game industry.

For example, one of the biggest issues that an average gamer faces in China is the absence or removal of loot boxes in their video games.

While loot boxes can be earned as you play certain games like Overwatch, there are instances where loot boxes are made for sale by those who create games themselves. The Chinese government has considered loot boxes in video games as gambling (17), and have regulated them accordingly. In most cases, loot boxes reward you with aesthetic features like skins, in-game currency, and other items. Spending money on loot boxes to get skins doesn’t really change the way you play the game.

On the other hand, those who played games to continuously earn these loot boxes face a disadvantage when they’re faced against those who’ve spent money on these digital items. The recent controversy of Diablo Immortal being a huge pay-to-win video game and the tendency for their users to spend a lot of money on them is a good example. One Diablo Immortal player has been reported to spend $50,000 (18) or so for the video game, giving them a huge advantage over those who play the game for free.

The Impact of Covid-19 On The Online Gaming World

A survey from 2020 reported that a significant portion of new gamers from different countries played video games as a form of social activity (14). Gamers in Europe reported that playing online multiplayer games made them happier and reduced their feelings of anxiety and isolation (15).

A Look At Online Gaming Industry Statistics

• Digital market revenue is expected to hit $360 billion by the end of 2022 (16).
• The digital market’s largest segment is video games, with a market volume of $208.60 billion (projected) (16).
• Most of the revenue generated by the digital market is projected to come from the United States at $110.3 million by 2022 (16). Most likely this will be a combination of game purchases for mobile devices, casual games, social network games,

Within the video gaming industry, it doesn’t come off as a surprise to say that the most popular genres, or shall we say the biggest contributors to the video gaming addiction statistics, are MMORPGs (Massive Multiplayer Online Role-Playing Games), FPS or first person shooter games, and different console games (e.g. fighting, platforming, puzzles).

Gamers spend a lot of time in any one of these video games:

1. Fortnite
2. League of Legends
3. World of Warcraft
4. Call of Duty

How Many Gamers Are There In The World?

• There were 2.94 billion active video gamers reported in 2021 (20).
• That number is set to increase to 3.09 billion by the end of 2022 (20).
• Asia Pacific holds the biggest share of gamer distribution in the entire world at 55% (21).
• As of November 2020, the average age of female gamers with the highest share worldwide is 21 to 35 years old (17%) (22).

Gone are the days when gamers were simply a minority, no more than the population of people who’re interested in stamp collecting or any other niched hobby. Gone are the days when the industry itself was dominated by male gamers.

Nowadays, female gamers are on the rise and contribute to the global gaming revenue in terms of game purchases, subscriptions, and more. As of November 2020, the share of gamers worldwide by gamers is at 50% male gamers and 50% female gamers (22). Just see how big Candy Crush is amongst older women.

How Many People Play Online Games?

• Tencent’s annual revenue for online gaming alone reached $174 billion in 2021 (23).
• The online PC gaming market value is projected to hit $45.6 billion by 2022, and projected to reach $46.7 billion by 2027 (24).
• The free-to-play video game market is expected to generate $106.3 billion in revenue by 2022 and $112.02 billion by 2023 (25).

It’s hard to put an exact number of how many people play video games online, mostly because one person could end up playing more than just one video game. But to paint a picture of just how many gamers are there playing online, we’ll look at the online gaming statistics for revenue and market value instead.

It’s not exactly the number that we want to figure out how many play video games online, but the amount of money being spent on mobile games, PC games, and console games should be more than enough to let you know that the gaming industry has a lot of gamers right now playing online.

What Is The Most Popular Online Game?

The top PC games in the world right now as of April 2022 in terms of monthly active users are:

• Fortnite
• Minecraft
• CS:GO
• League of Legends
• Valorant

Most of these video games, like Fortnite and Minecraft, are also included in console gaming statistics as one of the most popular console games in the market right now. You can see for yourself how big Minecraft is with our article on Minecraft statistics.

Of course, mobile gaming is also relatively huge as we’ve seen from the revenue that Tencent’s generated over the last year.

Mobile gamers were known to hover towards games such as:

• PUBG Mobile
• League of Legends: Wild Rift
• Hearthstone
• Diablo Immortal

What Are The Biggest Movers and Trending Games Right now?

The top ranking video games in the gaming industry is fairly consistent all throughout the year. While there were some games that moved up and down frequently, these titles were consistent enough to stay at the top (26):

• Minecraft
• Fortnite Battle Royale
• Fall Guys
• League Of Legends
• Counter-Strike: Global Offensive
• Valorant
• Roblox
• Call of Duty: Warzone/Vanguard
• Grand Theft Auto V
• APEX Legends

The video gaming industry wouldn’t be where it’s at right now if it wasn’t for any of these video games. Roblox and Minecraft are big amongst children, so much so that parents play video games right alongside them.

Call of Duty franchise, Fortnite, and Apex Legends are the top shooter games right now, be it PC gaming or gaming consoles. League of Legends in itself dominates the MOBA (Multiplayer Online Battle Arena) genre

What Are The Most Played Online Games?

1. PUBG – 1.20 billion players
2. CrossFire – 1 billion players
3. Dungeon Fighter Online – 850 million players
4. Minecraft – 738 million players
5. QQ Speed / GKART / Speed Drifters – 700 million players
6. Pac-Man Google Doodle – 505M players
7. Candy Crush Saga – 500M players
8. Among Us – 500 million players
9. Microsoft Solitaire – 400 million players
10. Mini World – 400 million players

This list is based on player count and registered accounts per game (27). It also considers the highest number of players logged in any given day since the game was released. The actual count of these video games may or may not reflect the actual number of people play video games on this list.

What Are The 10 Most Popular Games Played Online?

These are the 10 most popular online games for 2022 (28):

1. PUBG – 100+ million active players – PUBG Corporation – Released 2018
2. Minecraft – 95+ million active players – Mojang Studios – Released 2011
3. Apex Legends – 50+ million active players – Respawn Entertainment – Released 2019
4. Fortnite Battle Royale – 45 million active players – Epic Games – Released 2017
5. CS: Global Offensive – 35 million active players – Valve Corporation – Released 2012
6. Hearthstone – 30 million active players – Blizzard Entertainment – Released 2012
7. League of Legends – 27 million active players – Riot Games – Released 2009
8. Call of Duty Mobile – 15 million active players – TiMi Studios – Released 2019
9. Among Us – 8 million active players – InnerSloth LLC – Released 2018
10. Call of Duty Warzone – 6 million active players – Activision – Released 2020

There’s no doubt that PUGB remains one of the most popular games for 2022, be it on PC or on Mobile. Dubbed as the king of battle royale shooter games, PUBG is famous for its huge playerbase for a single map (at 99 players maximum). Combined with sandboxing elements and real-life scavenging, the players take up arms against other players by raiding and killing with whatever items they have.

Fortnite and Apex Legends follow in the same footsteps as PUBG and are two of the most popular battle royale shooter games of all time. Fortnite has its appeal with the building aspect, while Apex Legends has you playing different toons with different abilities. Much like PUBG, the goal is to survive the entire round against an entire army of people playing the same video game.

Reference:

(1) https://www.emarketer.com/content/gamers-make-up-more-than-one-third-of-world-population

(2) https://www.globalxetfs.com/video-games-esports-building-on-2020s-rapid-growth/

(3) https://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/us-consumer-video-game-spending-totaled-60-4-billion-in-2021–301462631.html

(4) https://newzoo.com/insights/articles/newzoo-games-market-numbers-revenues-and-audience-2020-2023

(5) https://www.wepc.com/news/video-game-statistics/

(6) https://www.tweaktown.com/news/64532/free-play-made-80-2018-digital-game-revenues/index.html

(7) https://www.gamedesigning.org/game-development-studios/#:~:text=Nintendo&text=Nintendo%20is%20the%20world’s%20largest,value%20of%20over%20USD85%20Billion.

(8) https://www.therecoveryvillage.com/process-addiction/video-game-addiction/gaming-addiction-statistics/

(9) https://www.mordorintelligence.com/industry-reports/global-gaming-market

(10) https://datareportal.com/reports/digital-2022-global-overview-report

(11) https://www.statista.com/statistics/1133150/positive-experiences-video-gaming/

(12) https://www.statista.com/statistics/1133182/harassment-online-video-games/

(13) https://www.statista.com/statistics/1133207/impact-harassment-online-video-games/

(14) https://www.statista.com/statistics/1219595/new-mobile-gamers-social-gaming/

(15) https://www.statista.com/statistics/1222964/multiplayer-gaming-attitudes-lockdown-covid-europe/

(16) https://www.statista.com/outlook/dmo/digital-media/worldwide

(17) https://www.mondaq.com/china/gaming/672860/a-middle-ground-approach-how-china-regulates-loot-boxes-and-gambling-features-in-online-games

(18) https://www.gamesradar.com/diablo-immortal-player-uses-dollar50000-worth-of-wow-gold-to-absolutely-flatten-cash-whales/

(19) https://www.psychiatry.org/patients-families/internet-gaming#:~:text=The%20DSM%2D5%20notes%20that,of%20social%20media%20or%20smartphones.

(20) https://www.statista.com/statistics/748044/number-video-gamers-world/

(21) https://www.statista.com/statistics/297874/number-mobile-gamers-region/

(22) https://www.statista.com/statistics/272327/mobile-social-and-traditional-gaming-users-by-gender/

(23) https://www.statista.com/statistics/527280/tencent-annual-online-games-revenue/

(24) https://www.statista.com/statistics/292516/pc-online-game-market-value-worldwide/

(25) https://www.statista.com/statistics/324129/arpu-f2p-mmo/

(26) https://newzoo.com/insights/rankings/top-20-pc-games

(27) https://gamertweak.com/most-played-popular-games/

(28) https://sportsbrowser.net/most-popular-online-games/

How Big Is The Video Game Industry?

For decades, video games have entertained young children and adults alike. Going back to the time when video games where nothing more than pixels and blips, the thought of video game industry being a billion dollar industry was but a dream.

It was pretty hard to imagine that companies would spend millions of dollars on hardware and software so people could play little shapes and hear beeping sounds right from the comforts of their own home.

Then the 80’s happened, and arcades changed the way people thought of video games. You weren’t looking at blips and shapes anymore. You were now looking at animated, colorized, and even moving human beings/animals on the screen. It didn’t take long for the video game industry to become as big as they are now.

Today, the video game industry is larger than the movie and music industries put together. And the industry is still growing.

Key Statistics

• Tencent earned $32.2 billion in gaming revenue, making them the highest earning gaming company (1).
• The mobile gaming market generated $91.1 billion in revenue as of June 2022, followed by the console gaming market with a revenue of $58.6 billion (2).
• Consumer spending on in-game purchases is projected to hit $74.5 billion by 2025 (3).
• Advertising spending for the mobile gaming industry is expected to hit $61.3 million by the end of 2022, and projected to hit $130 million by 2025 (4).
• The US Gaming Market is worth $95.4 billion (5)
• By 2023, there will be more than 3 billion active gamers (6)
• In the US, 79% of gamers are adults according to the Entertainment Software Association (7).
• It’s estimated that 64% of adults in the USA play video games regularly while 70% of people under 18 years of age play regularly (7).
• 3 out of 5 gamers are male, according to the Entertainment Software Association (7).

The Video Game Market In 2022

• Global video game consumer spending is expected to generate $200 billion in revenue for 2022 (8).
• The mobile game market is expected to grow 5% year on year and projected to hit $103.5 billion in revenue.
• Console titles will earn $57 billion to form part of that $200 billion revenue, which indicates an 8% growth from 2021.
• PC gaming is expected to hit $47 billion in sales in 2022.

Source (8)

USA Will Beat China In Video Game Spending For 2022

Gamers from the USA will spend more than gamers in China, making the region the highest revenue generator for the entire video game industry (9).

Gamers in the USA will generate close to $50.5 billion in revenue, while gamers in China will generate $50.2 billion. This small overtake can be attributed to the Chinese government’s crackdown on gaming by reducing the younger population’s time spent playing video games and limiting new releases.

Regardless, the Asia-Pacific will still continue to be the biggest region in terms of revenues by a huge margin.

How Many People Video Games?

• As of 2022, there are 3.09 billion gamers worldwide. In 2020, the population of gamers worldwide sat at 2.77 billion (10).
• Asia Pacific holds the largest share of gamers worldwide as of 2021 at 55%, followed by Middle East and Africa at 15%, Europe at 14%, Latin America at 10%, and North America at 7% (11).
• To put it in perspective, Asia Pacific has 1.5 billion gamers, Europe with 391 million, Middle East and Africa with 388 million, Latin America with 274 million, and North America with 200 million.
• By 2024, the number of gamers will increase to 3.24 billion.

Video games are growing in popularity. That’s a fact, and we don’t need surveys and statistics to prove that claim. More people are getting involved with the hobby because the stigma of video gaming being for “nerds” and “geeks” is gone. It’s no longer something to be ashamed of.

Consider people like Henry Cavill, who’s always been open to the media about his gaming hobby. Remember that time he broke the Internet by recording a video of himself building a PC?

Or what about the time when Terry Crews built his own gaming PC just so he can game together with his son?

The growth of the number of gamers is exponential to say the least.

The number of gamers for 2015 was 2.03 billion. Within a span of 7 years, it grew by a billion. To put it into perspective, there are 7.753 billion people on Earth right now so that means 39% of the global population are gamers (3.09 billion out of 7.753).

But what’s exactly the cause of the sudden growth of the video gaming industry? The answer: Mobile games industry. In 2021, the global gaming industry generated a revenue of $180.3 billion (12), with the mobile game segment earning $93.2 billion (more than 50% of the entire global gaming industry). Console gaming segment earned $50.4 billion while the PC gaming segment earned $36.7 billion.

Age and Video Gaming Industry Statistcs

Age plays a huge role in terms of determining the video games industry’s audience, and the numbers might surprise you.

In the USA, 80% of gamers are aged 18 years and older, while the number of gamers aged under 18 are 20% (13). This is contrary to the thought that video games are “just for children”.

Video Game Preferences

The preference for gaming genres between different age groups is diverse, as you can see from the chart (14).

• Gamers between the ages 16 and 24, gamers between the ages of 25 and 34, and gamers between the ages of 35 and 44 all prefer shooting games
• Gamers between the 45 and 54 prefer either shooting games or action games
• Gamers between the ages of 55 and 64 prefer puzzle games

In the USA alone, the best selling game franchise is Call of Duty. In 2021, Call of Duty: Vanguard and Call of Duty: Black Ops were the top selling video games (15). These games were followed by Madden: NFL, Pokemon: Brilliant Pearl/Diamond, and Battlefield 2042 in 3rd, 4th, and 5th place respectively.

Gaming Stats and Demographics for PC Gamers

There is an estimated 1.77 billion of PC gamers worldwide, with Asia accounting for 1/3 of global PC gamers (16).

There’s an estimated 687 million PC gamers just in Asia alone, with Europe coming in second at 468.4 million as of 2021.

Taiwan had the highest gaming reach for PC back in 2020, with 46% of their population playing video games on PC. China and Philippines came in at second and third place at 45% and 44% respectively.

Gaming Stats and Demographics for Console Gamers

Gaming revenue for the console segment is expected to decline by 6.6% in 2022 after hitting a 10% growth last year (17).

In North America, there are 106 million console gamers, which account for 42% of the console gaming worldwide. Europe comes in second place with 99.6 million gamers.

As for the consoles themselves, even with the advent of next-generation consoles such as the Playstation 5 and Xbox Series One, the Playstation 2 remains the best-selling console of all time, hitting sales of 157.67 million units, and the best-selling game for console is Wii Sports selling 82.65 million units.

Gaming Stats and Demographics for Mobile Gamers

In 2021, the number of mobile games rose to 2.6 billion (18). Of that 2.6 billion, the market share per region are as follows:

• 1.293 billion gamers are from Asia
• 551.7 million gamers are from Europe
• 309.2 million gamers are from Latin America
• 207.7 million gamers are from North America
• 145.8 million gamers are from MENA (Middle East and North Africa)
• 126.7 million gamers are from Sub-Sahara Africa
• 25.3 million gamers are from Oceania (Australia and New Zealand)

Free to Play Games (F2P) within the mobile gaming industry generated a global revenue of $75.64 billion as of 2021 and is projected to hit $78.74 billion by the end of 2022.

This doesn’t come as a shock, given that the mobile gaming content market value was worth $131.1 billion in 2021 and projected to hit $140.5 billion by 2022. Ten years ago, the market value of mobile gaming content was $8.6 billion, which is a significant increase of more than 100% to date (19).

Between Google Play Store and App Store, the latter had the highest mobile app store revenue with $52.3 billion (the total app revenue for Apple App Store was $85.1 billion for all apps, gaming and otherwise). Meanwhile, Google Play Store earned $37.3 billion for gaming apps, out of the $47.9 billion total (20).

What’s The Most Popular Gaming Platform?

The gaming market is divided into five parts: PC, console games, browser games, smartphone games, and tablet games.

Mobile games take up close to half, or 49%, of the global market with the combined tablet and smartphone gaming revenue. Boxed or downloaded PC games followed in third place with 21% share of market revenue, and Browser PC games account for 2% of market share (21).

But in terms of title availability and variety, PC gaming has it in the bag. The PC gaming industry has access to distribution platforms like Steam, Epic Games, EA Games, Ubisoft, and more. There are also video games that are highly popular worldwide but only available to PC. These games are League of Legends and World of Warcraft, to name a few. Multiplayer games on PC are also expanding to cross-platform functionality, meaning players from other platforms (e.g. consoles and smartphones) will be able to play with PC players.

References

(1) https://www.statista.com/statistics/421848/game-revenues-global-companies/

(2) https://www.statista.com/statistics/292751/mobile-gaming-revenue-worldwide-device/

(3) https://www.statista.com/statistics/558952/in-game-consumer-spending-worldwide/

(4) https://www.statista.com/statistics/1240471/mobile-game-ad-spend-market-value/

(5) https://www.ibisworld.com/industry-statistics/market-size/video-games-united-states/

(6) https://www.sporthiatus.com/news/tqgzk8oofy2f539fncovsb2d054x2p

(7) https://www.theesa.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/07/2020-ESA_Essential_facts_070820_Final_lowres.pdf

(8) https://newzoo.com/insights/articles/games-market-revenues-will-pass-200-billion-for-the-first-time-in-2022-as-the-u-s-overtakes-china

(9) https://newzoo.com/insights/articles/global-games-market-to-generate-175-8-billion-in-2021-despite-a-slight-decline-the-market-is-on-track-to-surpass-200-billion-in-2023

(10) https://www.statista.com/statistics/748044/number-video-gamers-world/

(11) https://www.statista.com/statistics/297874/number-mobile-gamers-region/#statisticContainer

(12) https://www.statista.com/statistics/278181/global-gaming-market-revenue-device/

(13) https://www.statista.com/statistics/189582/age-of-us-video-game-players/

(14) https://www.statista.com/statistics/1263585/top-video-game-genres-worldwide-by-age/

(15) https://www.statista.com/statistics/1285658/top-ranked-video-games-sales-annual/

(16) https://playtoday.co/blog/stats/pc-gamer-demographics/#Asia%20accounts

(17) https://www.statista.com/study/41961/game-consoles/

(18) https://www.statista.com/statistics/512112/number-mobile-gamers-world-by-region/

(19) https://www.statista.com/statistics/292512/mobile-contents-market-value-worldwide/

(20) https://www.statista.com/statistics/266489/earnings-forecast-for-mobile-apps-providers/

(21) https://financesonline.com/number-of-gamers-worldwide/

Video games are great and they’re one of the best hobbies to have. The industry is booming, and there’s just so many new games, consoles, accessories, and content that it’s becoming more and more difficult to keep up.

People should’ve seen it coming. Back in the 1980’s, the video game industry was already worth more than $5 billion dollars (1). This was the onset of arcade games and shops, and in a couple of years, the number of arcade machines doubled. And this was just in the United States alone.

Today, the gaming industry is a titan in itself. From video games to gaming consoles to gaming accessories, the rate of the industry’s growth just keeps going higher.

Key Statistics

• The global gaming industry now exceeds $300 billion in value. (5)
• More than 2.9 billion active players are reported worldwide (6).
• The gaming industry in the Asia Pacific is predicted to be worth $197 billion by the end of 2022
• The VR (virtual reality) gaming market reported that $4.5 billion was spent by players in 2020 (7)
• Nintendo’s Net Worth is $56.6 billion (8)
• Tencent earned $32.2 billion in 2021
• Latin American gamers experienced a 52% growth in time spent playing video games
• $50.86 billion was spent by users in the video game industry in 2022
• The highest grossing mobile game in the market is PUBG Mobile, generating $2.014 billion in revenue in 2021.
• Gamers in the video game industry already spent $50.86 billion in 2022.

How Much Was The Global Revenue For Gaming Companies In 2021?

Let’s look at the gaming revenue of companies in 2021 that make up the video game industry (2):

• Tencent raked in $32.2 billion and was the highest earning company in 2021
• Sony followed with $18.2 billion in revenue
• Apple comes in with $15.3 billion in gaming revenue
• Microsoft bags the 4th spot with $12.9 billion
• Google takes 5th place with $11 billion

Game developers such as Activision Blizzard, Nintendo, and Electronic Arts were also in the top 10 highest gaming revenue for 2021. Both Activision Blizzard and Nintendo earned $8.1 billion while Electronic Arts (EA) earned $6.5 billion.

In 2022, How Much Is The Video Game Industry Worth?

The gaming industry is expected to go strong in 2022, and this was all because of the Pandemic. At the onset of the Covid-19 Pandemic, there was significant growth in time spent playing video games by region (3):

• Gamers in Latin America experienced a 52% growth in time spent in video games
• Gamers in Asia-Pacific followed a close second with a 42% growth
• Gamers in Europe and Middle East had a 34% growth
• Gamers in North America had a 15% growth

This growth can be attributed to the fact that people were stuck at home, stressed and bored. Heading into 2022, you would think that the industry’s growth would slow down because places were opening back up and again, and life was returning to normal.

But that’s not the case here. In fact, there was a sudden spike in the industry’s growth.

The video game industry was valued at $198.41 billion and was expected to increase up to $339.95 billion by the end of 2027 with a 8.94 compounded annual growth rate spanning 2022-2027 (4).

Let’s dissect these statistics:

The Gaming Industry Is Worth More than $300 Billion

Accenture reported that the global gaming industry has now exceeded $300 billion based on their data from 4,000 gamers around the largest gaming markets in the world. These markets include gamers from China, UK, USA, and Japan.

The Gaming Industry In Asia Is A Giant!

The gaming industry in Asia increased by half a billion players spanning three years. The report from Accenture states that 400 million new players are jumping into the video game industry before 2023 ends.

What Are The Top Money Spending Games Of All Time?

These are the highest grossing games from the mobile gaming market (9):

• PUBG Mobile – $2.014 billion
• Honor of Kings – $1.654 billion
• Genshin Impact – $1.338 billion
• Roblox – $1.001 billion
• Coin Master – $936 million

Annual spending of mobile video game industry has reached $116 billion by the end of 2021 (10).

That’s a whopping $42.22 billion increase since 2018. App Store spending was close to $170 billion for all apps, which meant that games were a significant proportion of mobile spending.

And yes, for anyone playing multiplayer games, they’ll know that these are just some of the biggest titles in the mobile gaming industry.

What’s The Most Popular Video Game In The World?

As of May 2022, League of Legends is the most popular game in the world right now based on average Twitch weekly viewership. League of Legends reports 216,000 concurrent streamers spanning 7 days on Twitch for their game alone. It comes as no surprise given that most people right now are playing on a budget PC build, and LoL has amazing performance even on a budget build.

This was followed by Counter-Strike: Global Offensive and Grand Theft Auto V with 193,000 and 176,000 concurrent viewers respectively.

How Much Money Is Spent on Video Games?

Here’s how much money was spent in the video game industry in 2020 up to 2022 (11):

• $51.91 billion was spent by users in the video game industry in 2020
• $52.37 billion was spent by users in the video game industry in 2021
• $50.86 billion was spent by users in the video game industry in 2022

The video game industry during the time of the Pandemic was one of the few industries that experienced a huge surge in growth. From console games to mobile games, game developers had to make sure that they were doing enough to keep their consumers well entertained during the lockdown.

During the lockdown, it wasn’t a complete surprise to find out non-gamers wanted to play video games. The inability to enjoy entertainment outside of the comforts of one’s own home was simply too much.

How Much Does The Average Person Spend on Video Games As Of 2022?

• The average gamer from America spends about $76 monthly, or $912 a year on gaming.
• In a survey with 1,000 participants, 22.3% of gamers spend between $1 and $30 for gaming.
• 18% of participants spent anywhere between $120 and $150.

This expenditure covers Internet service, new games, gaming equipment (video game consoles, console games, etc.) and in-app purchases (online gaming purchases, subscriptions, and so on) according to a survey from PollFish. The survey was conducted by All Home Connections With 1,000 gamers spanning the ages of 16 to 56.

22.3% of participants say that they spend anywhere between $1 and $30 on gaming while 18% of participants reported spend more than $120 and up to $150.

How Much Money Does The Average Person Spend In Gaming For Their Lifetime?

TheGamer conducted a survey to calculate how much their readers were spending on average for online gaming, mobile games, or just within the gaming industry in itself.

Shockingly, the number was $58,000. $58,000 was spent on average by a gamer to fuel their hobby. This puts it at about $76 a month if you want to be more specific. Millennials were reported to spend more with at least $86 per month, or $66,000 in their lifetime in the gaming industry.

What Country Plays The Most Video Games?

The gaming industry is growing at a rapid pace. One of the reasons why this growth is tremendous is because people love the feeling of enjoying new releases for game content. The frequency of new game content release in the gaming industry is high, meaning gamers playing console games or mobile games or those into PC gaming enjoy fresh content for at least one of the video game titles they release.

With that said, let’s take a look at the top countries in the world with the most number of gamers.

China

China is at the top of the least for the most number of gamers in the gaming industry. It’s not because of their large population, but it’s because their citizens have the biggest passion for gaming. As of 2022, it’s projected that the gaming population in the country will reach 322 million and this is just for PC gaming (12).

It can’t also be denied that there are a lot of professional e-sports athletes and teams from China dominating console games, mobile games, PC gaming, and more. These athletes are inspiring other gamers to pursue the career path of becoming a professional gamer.

When it comes to the largest video games market, China is the king.

United States

Coming close to China is the United States of America, and the gaming industry wouldn’t be where it’s at today if not for the North American gaming market.

In 2018, the percentage of gamers in the USA is 30% of its population and that number has increased by now. In a report by the Entertainment Software Association (ESA) made in 2020, 64% of adults (aged 18 and older) play video games (13). That’s 163 million out of their entire US population. 70% of kids (aged 17 and younger) play video games, or about 51.1 million. That brings the total gaming population to 214 million.

Republic of Korea

South Korea may not be as large as China or the USA in terms of gaming population, but it doesn’t mean they’re not big contributors to the global gaming market. Let’s take a look at the three previous years (14):

• In 2019, 65% of their population played video games (Country’s population: 51.71 million)
• In 2020, the peak of Covid-19, 70.5% of their population played video games (Country’s population: 51.78 million)
• In 2021, 71.3% of their population were playing video games (Country’s population: 51.30 million)

The share of South Korea in the global gaming market is just as impressive. These numbers show the country’s share in the gaming market in terms of sales revenue as of 2020 (15):

• 12.4% for PC gaming
• 10.3% for Mobile gaming
• 1.7% for Console gaming
• 0.7% for Arcade Gaming

What Are The Most Popular Video Games By Country?

The following video games are popular for each country (17).

North America

The most played game in the country was Call of Duty: Infinite Warfare. This was followed by Overwatch, Persona 5, Fortnite, and Minecraft (17).

South America

In South America, the most popular video games found by the same survey were League of Legends, Persona 5, World of Warcraft, and CS: Global Offensive.

Africa

Africa is not without its gamers, so don’t even think twice about them lagging behind. The most popular video game in the second largest continent is FIFA and Counter Strike: Global Offensive. Horizon Zero Dawn also has a dominating grasp of the African gamer community as well.

Europe

Europe has a diverse gaming preference, so it’s no surprise that their popular video game titles include Battlefield, Horizon Zero Dawn, Counter Strike: Global Offensive, and World of Tanks.

Australia/Oceania

From the land down under, Australia and New Zealand’s gaming population is just as impressive as the next country on this list. Their most popular video game titles happen to be Horizon Zero Dawn, Mortal Kombat 11, and Battlefield.

Asia

With the largest video gaming market in the world for console games, mobile gaming, and PC gaming, it comes as no surprise that Asia does not have any fixed preference for video games in terms of genre. For countries like Mongolia, Myanmar, and Philippines, the most popular video game is Dota 2.

For countries like Malaysia and Indonesia, you have Persona 5 as the most popular title. South Korea, Vietnam, and Taiwan have Overwatch and Call of Duty: Infinite is preferred by India and Iran.

How Much Money Is Spent on Consoles and Accessories?

In the USA, consumer spending for video game accessories, hardware, and content is projected to hit $55.5 billion. This is an 8.7% decline compared to 2021 (16).

This decline can be attributed to several factors such as:

• Inflation
• Everyday spending for food and fuel
• Uncertainty of supply for video game products (consoles, hardware, accessories, and more)

As expected with the Covid-19 Pandemic in 2020 and 2021, there was a surge in video game spending with $56.1 billion and $60.8 billion reported respectively. However, this surge has flattened as people in the USA are now going back to their normal lives.

For video game hardware, the console market has yet to normalize in terms of demand due to the supply constraints experienced not just by the country, but for pretty much the rest of the world. The shortage of the next generation gaming consoles such as Playstation 5 and Xbox Series X have caused a significant surge in retail pricing. It doesn’t help that scalpers are taking out all the stocks for the next-generation consoles and increasing the retail pricing by as much as 200%.

Here are some predictions from the same report for 2022 (16) at the halfway mark:

• Nintendo Switch will lead the console hardware sales for 2022, however the dollar leadership is too close to call between Playstation 5, Xbox Series, and Nintendo Switch.
• Xbox Series is the only console hardware to show sales growth compared to their sales in 2021.
• Elden Ring will no doubt bag the best-selling game in the US Market. This would be the third time since 2009 that a Call of Duty video game does not dominate the market.
• Hardware shortages will still continue up until 2023, noting the Playstation 5 and Xbox Series X. Other components such as VR might also be affected.
• Even if Elden Ring bags the best-selling game title in the USA, Call of Duty will still remain as the country’s best-selling premium franchise for 14 consecutive years.
• With the increase in GPU availability and decrease in retail pricing, more PC gamers will be motivated to upgrade or switch over.

References

(1) https://www.rediscoverthe80s.com/2020/09/how-1980s-influenced-modern-gaming.html#:~:text=Arcade%20games%20were%20in%20great,in%20the%20United%20States%20alone.
(2) https://www.statista.com/statistics/421848/game-revenues-global-companies/
(3) https://www.statista.com/statistics/1188545/gaming-time-spent-covid/
(4) https://www.mordorintelligence.com/industry-reports/global-gaming-market#:~:text=Market%20Overview,8.94%25%20over%202022%2D2027.
(5) https://newsroom.accenture.com/news/global-gaming-industry-value-now-exceeds-300-billion-new-accenture-report-finds.htm
(6) https://newzoo.com/insights/articles/global-games-market-to-generate-175-8-billion-in-2021-despite-a-slight-decline-the-market-is-on-track-to-surpass-200-billion-in-2023/
(7) https://www.globenewswire.com/fr/news-release/2020/07/22/2065574/0/en/Global-Virtual-Reality-In-Gaming-Market-2020-to-2025-Growth-Trends-and-Forecast.html
(8) https://www.macrotrends.net/stocks/charts/NTDOY/nintendo/net-worth#:~:text=Nintendo%20net%20worth%20as%20of%20July%2012%2C%202022%20is%20%2455.65B.&text=NINTENDO%20LTD%20is%20the%20acknowledged,the%20creation%20of%20interactive%20entertainment.
(9) https://www.statista.com/statistics/1179913/highest-grossing-mobile-games/
(10) https://www.appannie.com/en/insights/market-data/state-of-mobile-2022/
(11) https://www.statista.com/statistics/1240266/video-game-consumer-spending-worldwide/
(12) https://www.statista.com/statistics/1311168/china-pc-game-user-size/
(13) https://www.theesa.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/07/2020-ESA_Essential_facts_070820_Final_lowres.pdf
(14) https://www.statista.com/statistics/1073781/south-korea-share-of-gamers/#:~:text=According%20to%20a%20survey%20conducted,in%202015%20at%2074.5%20percent.
(15) https://www.statista.com/statistics/825171/south-korea-share-of-gaming-industry-on-global-scale-by-category/
(16) https://www.npd.com/news/blog/2022/2022s-video-game-market-declines-expected-to-continue/
(17) https://www.cabletv.com

It wasn’t long ago when we could remember how pro gamers, streamers, and e-sports athletes made barely enough from their gaming careers. It wasn’t something that you’d decide to do just because you could make a full-time income out of it. On the contrary, making money from gaming was something more of a hobby than anything else a couple of decades ago.

Today, you’re now seeing professional players from different games earning millions of dollars per championship, video game content creators earning thousands of dollars a month on their YouTube channel, and even professional streamers from every streaming platform earning six figures a month, or even landing an exclusive streaming deal.

But it wasn’t only e-sports athletes, professional gamers, and streamers who’ve made it big decades ago. Video game publishers such as Electronic Arts (EA) and Activision Blizzard are constantly releasing content to their growing market, so much so that they’re expected to reach $196 billion by the end of 2022 (1).

Now, gamers are getting themselves a slice of the pie too but trust us, it’s easier said than done. Much like other professional sporting events, professional video game competitions are comprised of e-sports athletes. These are the top 1% of the entire gaming community for their given games. These are the Lebron James, the Tiger Woods, the Tom Brady, and pretty much every star athlete you could think of. When professional gamers earn a ton of money from a single event, it comes off as one of the biggest surprises for the person outside looking in.

How can someone who’s into video gaming be earning close to what professional athletes are earning? How can someone who’s streaming 8 hours a day have close to millions of dollars of endorsements from the big brands in the game industry?

Key Statistics

Here are the players with the highest overall earnings as of Jul 2026 (those who earned the most prize money) (2),(3):

1. N0tail (Johan Sundstein) $7,184,163.05 Dota 2
2. JerAx (Jesse Vainikka) $6,486,948.78 Dota 2
3. ana (Anathan Pham) $6,004,411.96 Dota 2
4. Ceb (Sébastien Debs) $5,813,909.40 Dota 2
5. Topson (Topias Taavitsainen) $5,690,417.57 Dota 2
6. KuroKy (Kuro Takhasomi) $5,230,947.73 Dota 2
7. Miracle (Amer Al-Barkawi) $4,833,885.26 Dota 2
8. MinD_ContRoL (Ivan Ivanov) $4,614,959.74 Dota 2
9. Matumbaman (Lasse Urpalainen) $4,526,049.04 Dota 2
10. GH (Maroun Merhej) $4,229,254.27 Dota 2

There’s also a reason why the top 10 are comprised of professional Dota 2 players. Listed below are the top e-sports games worldwide in 2021 based on cumulative tournament prize pool (4),(5):

1. DOTA 2 – $47.73 Million
2. Counter-Strike: Global Offensive – $21.17 Million
3. PlayerUnknown`s Battlegrounds Mobile – $17.16 Million
4. PlayerUnknown`s Battlegrounds – $ 16.03 Million
5. Arena of Valor – $13.34 Million
6. Fortnite Million – $9.47 Million
7. League of Legend – $7.68 Million
8. Valorant – $6.44 Million
9. Rainbow Six Siege – $6.22 Million
10. Call of Duty: Warzone – $6.12 Million

Source: (4), (5)

Who Earned The Highest Prize Money Earned For A Single Event?

• Johan “N0tail” Sundstein – $7.2 million – DOTA 2
• Kyle “Bugha” Giersdorf – $3.2 million – Fortnite
• Peter “dupreeh” Rasmussen – $1.9 million – Counter-Strike Global Offensive
• Ian “C6” Porter – $1.3 million – Call of Duty
• Lee “Faker” Sang-hyeok – $1.3 million – League of Legends

Every single professional gamer on this list are recognized by gamers in the world for their skills, personality, and of course, their prize money earned for major tournaments. Games such as Dota 2 and League of Legends are known for drawing in huge crowds on top of large cash prizes.

Listed below are players from the most popular games with major tournaments who earned the highest prize money for a single event. Note that for this list, we’ll only be including the highest paid player from a single game.

Johan “N0tail” Sundstein – $7.2 million – DOTA 2

N0tail is a man who needs no introduction. Considered as the best Dota 2 player right now, this Danish athlete became the highest paid athlete in e-sports after winning The International for the second time in a row. His payday back in TI8 and TI9 weren’t the only things that were impressive. He also had a massive payout during his stint with Fnatic.

Kyle “Bugha” Giersdorf – $3.2 million – Fortnite

Fortnite became one of the most popular video games within a short period of time, so it wasn’t a complete surprise for its players when Fortnite burst into the e-sports scene. With Epic Games, the developer behind Fortnite, investing millions of dollars into tournaments, only one professional gamer rose to the top: Kyle “Bugha” Giersdorf”.

Coming from Sentinels, Bugha dominated everyone by playing Fortnite World Cup back in 2019 and earned $3.2 million in prize money.

Peter “dupreeh” Rasmussen – $1.9 million – Counter-Strike Global Offensive

Fortnite isn’t the only FPS game out there with huge payouts. Counter-Strike: Global Offensive is one of the few and most popular FPS games in the e-sports scene right now with several professional icons. Among them is Peter “dupreeh” Rasmussen, dubbed as the Frag Master. Having won four Valve Major tournaments, he helped Astralis rose to fame by pushing them to the top of the Counter-Strike standings.

Ian “C6” Porter – $1.3 million – Call of Duty

If you’ve ever played any of the FPS games mentioned above, then you’ve probably played Call of Duty. The franchise is not only known for its multiplayer content but also for its single player content as well.

However, CoD isn’t as popular as CS:GO or Fortnite when it comes to the professional e-sports scene but it doesn’t mean that the game doesn’t have professional gamers. Among them is Ian “C6” Porter, who you might consider as the N0Tail or Faker of the game.

He’s won three world championships with 37 major tournaments under his belt. Having said that, he’s earned more than $1 million in prize earnings.

Lee “Faker” Sang-hyeok – $1.3 million – League of Legends

Professional gamers aren’t exactly known outside of the gaming circuit, and it’s rare for non-gamers to recognize some of them. However, one such professional gamer has made his mark in the gaming scene, so much so that even those who’re not playing League of Legends recognize him.

Lee “Faker” Sang-hyeok is that gamer. Probably considered as the most celebrated gamer in South Korea and in the world, Faker is literally a god when it comes to League of Legends. A constant Mid laner for SKT T1, Faker has helped his team win three world titles. What’s even more impressive here is that he won his first World Championship during his debut.

When he’s not playing major tournaments, Faker is also a full time Twitch streamer and his fans from all over the world flock to his stream for his amazing plays.

Who Are The Richest Gamers In The World?

• Felix “PewDiePie” Kjellberg ($60 million)
• Tyler “Ninja” Blevins ($40 million)
• Daniel “DanTDM” Middleton ($35 million)
• Mark “Markiplier” Fischbach ($35 million)
• Evan “VanossGaming” Fong ($25 million)

Gamers in the world will recognize pretty much all of the names listed on here. These are the richest gamers in the world right now, accounting for their income from streaming, views, endorsements, tournament wins, and so on.

Felix “PewDiePie” Kjellberg ($60 million)

PewDiePie, or Felix Kjellberg, is at the top of the list of the richest gamers with close to a net worth of $60 million as of 2022. Unlike most of the YouTube channels, PewDiePie plays a lot of video games. This is probably the biggest reason why he draws in a lot of viewers, on top of his quirky and funny personality. He also made his mark on YouTube by playing Amnesia: The Dark Descent and recording his over the top reactions. This was probably the start of his gaming content.

He earns close to $20,000 from each video, and with hundreds of videos uploaded, well you do the math. He also earns money from his mobile app and his bestselling book called “This Book Loves You.” As of this writing, the book sold more than 112,000 copies worldwide.

Tyler “Ninja” Blevins ($40 million)

Tyler Blevins, a.k.a Ninja, is one of the biggest Fortnite streamers on YouTube and Twitch. His antics and plays have garnered him millions of viewers and subscribers respectively. Celebrity Net Worth reported that Ninja has about 24 million subscribers on Twitch and gets about 2.5 billion views on his uploaded videos. Twitch streaming earns him about $5 per subscription, so he hits close to $500,000 to $1,000,000 a month on the platform alone.

He signed an exclusive deal with Microsoft, which increased his net worth further. This meant that he only had to stream exclusively on their platform, Mixer. Because of this buyout, Ninja earned $40 million from this exclusive deal.

Daniel “DanTDM” Middleton ($35 million)

Daniel Middleton hosts a YouTube channel for Minecraft, but he does cover different games here and there. His channel, now known as DanTDM, was formerly known as The Diamond Minecart (in reference to two items found in Minecraft).

His videos have garnered 10 billion views in total. Back in 2017, he earned $16.5 million just from the gaming videos. It’s reported that he earns close to $12 million or so annually from videos.

He is also in the Guinness Book of World Records for having the most views for his Minecraft channel. His other accolades include scoring the most number of goals for Rocket League in a team of 2-3.

Mark “Markiplier” Fischbach ($35 million)

Mark Fischbach, or Markiplier, is considered as a jack of all trades and master of none. He’s probably the second biggest variety streamer and content creator, next to PewDiePie. His YouTube channel has about 30 million subscribers with a total views of 17 billion for all of his uploaded videos.

Like PewDiePie, Markiplier is known for not taking himself seriously. He’s known for his funny antics and commentary for every game he plays. It’s reported that he earns about $10 million and up to $20 million a year just from gaming. When he’s not gaming, he’s also an actor, director, producer, and writer.

Mark Fischbach, or Markiplier, also became popular when he recorded his over the top reactions for the Freddy’s series (a video game about carnival mascots coming to life and murdering you). Over the last year, Markiplier and his friends where last seen streaming and recording for Phasmophobia, a game that lets you play as one of the members of a paranormal action squad that investigates haunted houses.

Evan “VanossGaming” Fong ($25 million)

Evan Fong does not have any fancy alias, but he’s still widely recognized for his channel, VanossGaming. The channel boasts of 21 million subscribers and rising, with an average of 8 billion views for his uploaded videos.

He mostly plays Grand Theft Auto V and Call of Duty: World at War. In his gaming videos, he is usually accompanied by his friends and it’s mostly just about random conversations here and there.

He was nominated for Shorty Award for Tech and Innovation in 2016 and The Game Award for Trending Gamer in 2014. Because he won these awards, he decided to drop out of college to pursue a full-time career in YouTube gaming. It’s reported that he earns close to $12 million a year from his YouTube content.

Who Are The Richest Streamers In The World?

Whether it’s on YouTube or Twitch, these are the richest streamers in the world right now as of 2022. The biggest streamers have earned close to seven figures from their subscriptions, donations, and more.

Tyler “Ninja” Blevins

Ninja is widely considered to be the most viewed streamer back in the day, but that doesn’t mean he’s not as popular as before. He’s still one of the biggest names in streaming, so much so that your grandparents might recognize him for his colored hair.

But he wasn’t a big streamer when he started. Tyler Blevins’ gaming career started back when he was playing Halo competitively for many of the big named sports teams such as Cloud9, Team Liquid, and Renegades. In 2017, he started to stream Fortnite and his popularity pretty much grew overnight. He quadrupled his Twitch following in less than 6 months after being a former pro player for Halo.

In 2019, he signed a deal with Microsoft for exclusively streaming in Mixer, their proprietary streaming platform. However, he returned to Twitch a year later after Mixer shut down the year after. He still streams Fortnite, but he admitted to becoming addicted to Apex Legends.

Michael “Shroud” Grzeziek

Much like Ninja, Shroud, or Michael Grzesiek, needs no introduction. He’s the second biggest Twitch streamer as of this writing with a net worth of $24 million. As of August 2021, Shroud has the 5th most followed channel on Twitch with 9.5 million followers. He also signed exclusively with Mixer together with Ninja, but returned to Twitch. This time, Twitch made sure to lock him in through an exclusivity contract.

Like Ninja, Michael Grzesiek started his career playing CS:GO professionally for different e-sports teams, such as Manajuma and Exertus eSports. He recently signed a deal to play Valorant for Sentinels as part of their e-sports team earlier last week.

Shround plays a lot of FPS games, mostly Rainbow Six Siege, Valorant, and CS:GO. He was heavily streaming PUBG at the peak of its popularity and gained followers from the mobile side of things as well with his sick plays.

Turner “Tfue” Tenney

Turner Tenney, or Tfue, is the third wealthiest streamer with a net worth of $20 million and second most followed Twitch channel with more than 10 million followers.

He started his streaming career playing Destiny, H1Z1, and Call of Duty. He later switched to Fortnite in 2018 and joined an e-sports clan called FaZe. It was a short-lived endeavor as Tfue decided to sue FaZe for pressuring him into illegal gambling and underage drinking. It was also reported that FaZe took out a large percentage from his earnings from different brand deals.

In the end, FaZe decided to redo his contract where he would receive 100% of his revenues, but Tfue declined. Once the dust settled, Tfue went on to resume streaming Apex Legends, Fortnite, and Call of Duty: Warzone to name a few.

Rachell “Valkyrae” Hofstetter

The fourth streamer on this list is not only one of the richest streamers in the world, but she also owns an e-sports team. Rachell “Valkyrae” Hofstetter comes in with a net worth of $15 million (estimated) and 3.5 million subscribers on YouTube. Needless to say, she’s one of the most popular female streamers in the world with a large fan base.

Valkryae got into streamer after she was encouraged by one of her followers on Instagram and other friends. In 2018, she was the first content creator and female gamer to sign with 100 Thieves, which eventually led to her co-owning the organization last April 2021. She signed an exclusive deal with YouTube to stream on their platform.

Timothy John “TimTheTatman” Betar

Timothy John Betar, or TimTheTatman, slides into this list with a net worth of $10 million. He has 4 million subscribers on YouTube and counting. But he’s not just all numbers. TimTheTatman is good at what he does, and it shows on his streaming content.

Known for being a variety streamer, TimTheTatman started his career back in 2011 creating content for YouTube. He streamed games such as CS:GO and World of Warcraft when he first started. But like Ninja, TimTheTatman grew in popularity when he also started playing Fortnite. He went on to grow to 6.5 million followers on Twitch before signing exclusively with the platform on Sept 2021. He also earns from his extensive clothing line, which focuses on body positivity and his brand.

Recently, he’s been streaming and creating content for Call of Duty: Warzone but he does dabble with other games.

Which Platform Hosts the Most Richest Streamers?

According to Statista (6):

• Twitch leads the number of hours watched during the first quarter of 2022 with 6.129 million.
• YouTube follows after a large gap with 1.29 million hours.
• Facebook comes in last with 803,000 hours.

Twitch is home to most of the richest streamers and gamers worldwide, boasting close to about 2.5 million unique active channels streaming monthly and 15 million active users clocked in daily.

YouTube comes to a close second after Twitch, so it doesn’t come off as a surprise when it comes to their aggression for landing exclusivity deals with other popular streamers such as DrLupo. Facebook Gaming still has a long way to go if it wants to catch up to YouTube alone, even more for Twitch. But it doesn’t mean that they’re lacking. Like YouTube, Facebook Gaming is aggressive in landing exclusive deals. They’re even beginning to attract the big streamers such as Disguised Toast of Hearthstone fame and StoneMountain64.

References

(1) https://www.businessinsider.com/video-game-industry-120-billion-future-innovation-2019-9
(2) https://www.esportsearnings.com/players
(3) https://www.statista.com/statistics/518010/leading-esports-players-worldwide-by-earnings/
(4) https://www.esportsearnings.com/games
(5) https://www.statista.com/statistics/501853/leading-esports-games-worldwide-total-prize-pool/
(6) https://www.statista.com/statistics/1030795/hours-watched-streamlabs-platform/