The latest report published by Hamburg-based market intelligence firm yStats.com, “Global Digital Gaming Market 2023” summarizes the developments and emerging trends within the digital gaming market. Some key findings of the report include forecasts of market size, number of players, and gaming revenue as per segments as well as growth trajectories of the gaming market across nations.
The digital gaming industry flourishes, with mobile gaming generating the highest revenue
The outbreak of the pandemic led to the acceleration of the overall entertainment industry and gaming was no exception to this. Technological advancement and the emergence of trends such as the use of AR/VR and blockchain gaming have altered the norms of the traditional gaming industry. With, gamers now going beyond just playing games to also creating and viewing game-related content, the gaming market revenue is forecasted to reach a value in the billions of euros by 2025, growing at a single-digit CAGR between 2022 and 2025, as revealed by the new yStats.com report. In terms of the regions, Asia-Pacific was the front-runner witnessing the highest revenue generation as of 2022, followed by North America. Furthermore, as of 2022, mobile games accounted for the highest share of gaming revenue compared to other gaming segments, generating revenue of a certain billion euros. Additionally, more than half of the mobile gaming revenue in 2022 came from China, followed by USA and Japan. Mobile gaming also accounted for the highest number of gaming players as of 2022, with Asia-Pacific witnessing the highest share of gaming players. Mobile was also the most preferred platform for gaming especially among the younger generations, with almost three-quarters of surveyed Gen Alpha gamers using mobile to play games as of 2022. Mobile games also dominated the revenue generation on Google Play Store and iOS as of 2022, with iOS generating a larger share of mobile gaming revenue as compared to the Google Play Store.
Advanced technology trends such as gaming in the Metaverse, AR/VR in gaming, and blockchain gaming are set to change the traditional gaming industry
Technological advancement and emerging trends have led to the acceleration of the gaming industry globally. With gamers and gaming companies embracing these trends, it has ushered in a new wave of gaming that goes beyond just gaming to also include viewing, attending gaming events, and socializing within gaming. Socializing is becoming the central point of gaming, with more and more players engaging in the immersive universe, thus giving rise to the concept of gaming in the Metaverse. Furthermore, more than three-quarters of surveyed gamers globally claimed attending virtual events/games to be their preferred activating within an immersive world as of April 2022, as revealed by the new yStats.com report. The younger generations especially Gen Alpha and Gen Z showed preference towards other gaming-related activities such as viewing game-related content as well as socializing with other players within the game. For instance, more than two-thirds of Gen Alpha and Gen Z gamers are inclined towards watching gaming-related content second to playing games as of 2022. The two generations also showed a higher willingness to make in-game purchases as of 2022, with nearly one-third of Gen Alpha and Gen Z gamers intending to purchase gear and playable characters in-game during the same period. The shift towards gaming in the Metaverse is visible globally, with more than half of surveyed Gen Z gamers in the U.S. intending to make money in the Metaverse as of February 2022. Furthermore, gamers are also expecting brands to provide virtual stores for browsing and buying in the Metaverse. Gaming companies and brands have taken steps to venture into the Metaverse, with Minecraft and Fortnite as well as gaming platform Roblox providing virtual worlds, allowing gamers to socialize with one another through the in-game chat feature. Blockchain has laid the foundation of a new era in gaming known as blockchain gaming, involving the sale of gaming characters and avatars via blockchain, trading virtual goods with the help of NFTs, as well as earning in-game rewards through fiat and cryptocurrency, as per the new yStats.com report.
