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