The gaming markets have not only survived the pandemic… they have actually thrived. The global media and entertainment market has consistently been on the rise during this time.
The entire worldwide market is projected to grow from an estimated $1.72 trillion in 2015 to $2.2 trillion by 2021. Gaming is an integral and ever-developing segment of this market.
The two largest gaming regions, Asia Pacific and North America, are predicted to account for 78% of global revenues in 2017. Online gaming in particular is one of the branches that has evolved over the past decades. It includes social gaming, mobile gaming, as well as free-to-play and pay-to-play massively multiplayer gaming, otherwise known as MMO gaming.
According to Statista, the latter two segments combined generated revenue of roughly $19.9 billion in 2016 and, judging by the data volume of global online gaming traffic alone, which is forecast to grow from 126 petabytes in 2016 to 568 petabytes in 2020, it is safe to assume online gaming is here to stay.
The Statista report added: “Revenue in the Online Games segment is projected to reach $23,582 million in 2021; Revenue is expected to show an annual growth rate (CAGR 2021-2025) of 7.4%, resulting in a projected market volume of $31,328 million by 2025; User penetration will be 14.6% in 2021 and is expected to hit 16.4% by 2025; The average revenue per user (ARPU) is expected to amount to US$21.49; and in global comparison, most revenue will be generated in China (US$5,599m in 2021).”
Active tech and gaming stocks in news include: Tapinator, Inc., Glu Mobile Inc., Zynga Inc., DraftKings Inc., Electronic Arts Inc.
Statista continued: “The number of online console gamers is expected to grow to over 57 million by 2020 and the market for PC online games alone is projected to reach a value of around $33.6 billion by 2019.”
In a 2016 survey, 25% of respondents claimed to have spent on average between 41% to 60% of their time playing multiplayer online games using a handheld console. Social gaming is tightly bound with mobile gaming, as the majority of social games are developed in the form of apps for iOS and Android devices.
In the US alone, the social app-based market largely exceeds browser-based social gaming. This trend has been apparent at least since 2010. That year, app-based gaming accounted for 70% of the social online market value, with the remaining 30% of the value attributed to browser social games.
