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25+ Interesting Video Gaming Facts and Statistics for Gamers
Let’s check out its market size through some interesting video game industry growth and revenue statistics.1. The forecasted revenue for the global video gaming industry by the end of 2021 was around $175.8 billion. The amount of $175.8 billion was spent combined by the three billion players worldwide (80% veteran players, 20% new players). Alone in EMEA (Europe, Middle East and Africa), the most diversifying gaming region, around $38 billion was spent by 843 million players. While console gaming was the largest gaming segment in 2021, the fastest growth was observed in the mobile gaming segment (4% YOY growth). [Source: Adcolony]
2. By the end of 2023, the global video gaming market is expected to reach around $200 billion.
As per the experts, online gaming is the future. According to a Newzoo forecast, the gaming industry is expected to reach around $204.6 billion in 2023, with an anticipated CAGR growth of +7.2% between 2019 and 2023. [Source: NewZoo]
3. The US video game industry surpassed $85.86 billion market size in 2021, which in 2020 was around $76.15 billion.
Ever wondered how much is the gaming industry worth? During and after Covid-19 lockdown, the demand for online gaming has increased massively in the US. In 2020, the US video gaming industry attained its all-time high growth of $76.15 billion, which in 2021 grew to $85.86 billion. [Source: Statista]
4. Between 2020 to 2025, the global gaming industry is expected to grow at a 12% CAGR rate.
The first kind of video game was created back in the 1950s. Since then, the industry has witnessed a huge revolution like Arcade gaming, mobile gaming, console gaming, etc. But the real revolution came with the introduction of VR gaming in the last two-three years.
In 2020, global gamers had spent around 4.5 billion on VR gaming as they are 20 times more enjoyable than conventional video games. In the coming years, this growth is expected to increase by a 12% CAGR rate by the end of 2025. [Source: GlobalNewsWire]
5. In 2020, the market capitalization of Virtual Games reached $1.1 billion.
As the craze for VR games increases every year, experts predict that virtual content revenue will reach around $4 billion by 2025. In 2020 alone, 6.4 million VR headsets were sold, accounting for $1.1 billion in revenue. [Source: GamesIndustry]
6. The revenue for free-to-play games reached around $98.4 billion in 2020.
In 2020, the majority of digital revenue (around $120 billion) was collected through free-to-play games (around $98.4 billion). As the name indicates, Free-to-play games are available on digital media to play for free without buying, but the developer earns money through ads and other in-game sales.
In 2020, its revenue increased by 9% (YOY growth), contributing to 78% of total digital games revenue. [Source: GamesIndustryBiz]
7. In 2019, Steam had around 30,000 games to offer to players worldwide, and 9866 were added to it in 2020.
Steam is the largest digital PC game distribution platform for gamers worldwide. 30,000 is the round figure (represents the stand-alone games only), while the more exact count was around 27,662, out of which 16,000 were released since 2017. In 2019, approximately 7930 games were released on Steam, while in 2018, about 8,137 were released. [Source: Into Indie Games]
8. The estimated worldwide video game subscriptions in 2021 were worth around $7.5 billion.
The video game subscription market has witnessed incredible worldwide growth in the last few years. Through the subscription of most popular games like PlayStation Plus, Xbox Game Pass, and Apple Arcade, the market saw impressive growth of 13.5% in 2021, with an estimated revenue of around $7.5 billion. By 2025, the growth is expected to grow by 14.3%. [Source: Statista]
9. The annual mobile gaming revenue in India is expected to reach around $5 billion by 2025.
The covid-19 pandemic proved a blessing in disguise for the mobile gaming industry as the demand for home entertainment increased massively. In 2020, there were over 300 million gamers in India, accounting for generating around $1.8 billion in mobile gaming revenue. By 2025, the revenue is expected to grow by $5 billion as per the Sequoia India and Boston Consulting Group’s analysis. [Source: BusinessLine]
Video Game Trends Statistics
Do you know what is the best game in the world? Let’s take a glance at the popular video game trend statistics to find the answer. 10. In November 2021, Grand Theft Auto V was the most streamed and watched video game on the Twitch platform. With over 2.1 billion viewers in 2021, GTA V became the most streamed and watched video game on Twitch even after eight year of its release. In 2020, the total watch hours of Twitch was around 17 billion, which increased by 45% in 2021 to reach about 24 billion, and GTA V played a huge role in it. The game has been incredibly popular for publisher take-two since its release, and the highest sales were recorded in 2020 since 2013. [Source: Technosports] 11. With more than 82.9 million copies sold worldwide, Will Sports became the best-selling game of all time as of 2022. Released in 2006 by Nintendo, Will sports sold over 2x more copies (around 82.9 million) than its competitor Mario Kart Wii (approximately 37.38 million copies sold) and NES’s Super Mario Bros (sold about 30.3 million copies) to rank the chart as the best-selling game of all time. The primary reason behind the huge sale of Will sports is getting sold as a part of a bundle with the all-time popular Wii console. [Source: Statista]
12. As per the gaming trends and critiques, the best game of all time is Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time, with an overall Metacritic score of 99/100.
The game has 22 critique positive and 1042 users positive ratings on the Metacritic, with an average rating of 9.2/10 among players. Also, the game is rewarded with various awards like
- #1 Best N64 Game of 1998
- #1 Most Discussed N64 Game of 1998
- #1 Most Shared N64 Game of 1998
14. Since its release in March 2017, the Nintendo Switch has sold over 92 million hardware units by 2021.
With 92.8 million hardware and 681 million soft copy sales, Nintendo Switch is in the second position in the table of Nintendo’s most successful home consoles of all time. It is just 10 million hardware unit sales away from beating its competitor Nintendo Wii (currently in the first position with the sale of over 101.6 million units). Now with the launch of its new OLED in September 2021, the Switch is about to reach its target. [Source: NintendoLife]
15. The largest video game acquisition deal is the Activision Blizzard acquisition by Microsoft in 2016 for $68.7 billion.
Till 2022, the biggest video gaming acquisition is the purchase of Activision Blizzard (Publisher behind some popular titles like Call of Duty, Spyro, Candy Crush) by Microsoft for $68.7 billion announced on Jan 18, 2022.This acquisition also adds multiple studios to the Xbox first party line up like Infinity Ward, Raven Software, Toys for Bob, etc. [Source: WindowsCentral]
16. Casual Single Player games are the most played type of video game globally, followed by First-Person Shooter and Casual Multiplayer games.
According to a recent Statista survey, Casual Single Player games like Candy Crush, Battle Royale Games (like PUBG, Fortnite, etc.) and Clash of Clans were the most played games among the global audience. Countries like India, China and Vietnam have the highest ratings for such games (around 92-93%). In the second position, first-person shooter games rank globally with 74.2%, followed by Casual multiplayer games (73.6%). [Source: Statista]
17. The top-grossing mobile game in 2021 was PUBG, with around $244 million in player spending.
The growth of Tencent’s popular game – PUBG, grew by 36.7% in 2021 from 2020, with a total of $244 million in player spending. Out of this total revenue, around 68.3% came from the Chinese market (localized as Game of Peace), followed by the US (6.8%) and Turkey (5.5%), as per the Sensor Tower report. [Source: FreePressJournal]
Largest Gaming Companies
18. Razer is one of the leading players in the global gaming market with a 12.83% market share. In terms of revenue, Razer is the world-leading player in the worldwide PC Gaming Peripherals market, with a total market share of 12.3%. After Razer, the other companies in line are Logitech G (ASTRO), Turtle Beach, Corsair and Sennheiser. The global peripheral gaming market is expected to witness a growth of 7.9% between 2019 to 2015. [Source: DigitalJournal] 19. As of 2021, Microsoft dominated the US gaming market with a 50% market share. Microsoft holds a strong position in the global gaming market, especially in the US, through its Xbox Game pass and other acquisitions like Activision and Mojang (creator of Minecraft title). Microsoft has captured the video gaming industry worth $180 billion through these acquisitions, accounting for 11% of its total revenue. The company dominates the US gaming market with a 50% current market share. [Source: Seeking Alpha]
20. The online revenue of Nintendo overtook the retail software revenue by March 2022, resulting in 59.3% of Nintendo’s digital gaming sales.
In the 2022 March end, 42.6% of Nintendo gaming software revenue was generated through its digital unit sales, including the sale of packaged software (downloadable), Nintendo Switch Online, download-only software and add-on content. In total, the digital sales for that period accounted for around 359.6 billion yen. [Source: Statista]
21. In 2021, the most popular console operating system was Sony Playstation, with a global market share of around 64.5%.
Compared to its performance in 2020, Sony PlayStation witnessed a slight increase in its global market share (making around 64.5%) in 2021 through its Playstation and console sales. Launched in 1994, Playstation became the most popular console system worldwide, with millions of units sold every year. In March 2021, the Playstation plus recorded around 47.6 million subscribers. PS2 became the best and highest selling home video game consoles in 2021 with an estimated 155 Million units sold lifetime[Source: Statista]
Video Gamers Demographics & Behavior
22. As per the recent DFC Intelligence report, there were around 3.24 billion gamers globally by Mid 2020. The world population is around 8 billion, out of which about 3.24 billion people play video games, making around 40% of the total population. In 2021, Asia had the highest number of gamers (approximately 1.48 billion), followed by Europe (having about 718 million gamers). [Source: Statista]
23. The average age of female gamers worldwide is 36, while for males, it is 32.
According to PewResearch, in the age bracket of 30 years or younger, around 72% of men actively engaged in the games compared to women (about 49%). In the age bracket of 30 to 49, 48% of women are active gamers. In the age bracket of 50, women are more active (about 30%) than males (about 27%). [Source: PewResearch]
24. Around 60% of players in America play video games daily for hours.
In 2018, over 150 million Americans were playing video games, and around 64% of households had at least one member as an active gamer (play games daily for 3-4 hours). According to the ESA report, not only teenagers are active gamers but also people belonging to the age of 34 years and more. Also, 56% of active gamers at least play games once a week. [Source: ABC News]
25. Around 64% of adults in America enjoy playing video games.
More than 164 million American adults, making around 64%, enjoy playing video games in the US. More than 90% of American households own a smartphone, and 50% of them use these devices to play games online. Around 52% of these American adults are college graduates and enjoy it as a hobby to play with other people or online. Around 90% of American parents pay attention to what their kids play, while 52% enjoy playing with them. [Source: Venture Beat]
26. Around 42% of video gamers prefer smartphones as their choice of device to play games in the UK.
According to a poll conducted by the U.K.-based mobile strategy agency Tappable, 42% of players (both male and female) prefer to play games on smartphones, while 32% prefer consoles and 26% prefer PC for them.
The primary reason behind it is the convenience and portability associated with mobile devices. Probably, this is why people prefer the Nintendo Switch over other consoles because it is a hybrid between smartphone & console, giving you the best of both worlds. [Source: Forbes]
Conclusion
So, all these interesting Video Game Statistics reveal a lot about the gaming industry’s total market share and strength in the entertainment sector. With new innovations like VR technology and Multiplayer games, the gaming sector will rise even more in the coming three-four years. Some of the most addictive games from recent years have been PUBG, Fortnite, League of Legends, Worlds of Warcraft, etc. It is clear that the gaming industry is growing massively year over year, and there is no sign of slowing down anytime soon!Sources:
- Adcolony
- NewZoo
- Statista
- GlobalNewsWire
- GamesIndustry
- GamesIndustryBiz
- IntoIndieGames
- Statista (Global Video Game Market Subscription Growth Statistics)
- BusinessLine
- Technosports
- Statista (Nintendo WII top-selling games worldwide in 2022)
- Metacritic
- TitleMax
- NintendoLife
- WindowsCentral
- Statista (Favorite Video Game Types Worldwide 2021)
- FreePressJournal
- DigitalJournal
- Seeking Alpha
- Statista (Nintendo Digital Game Sales 2022)
- Statista (Worldwide market share of Game Console Operating Systems 2021)
- Statista (Number of Gamers worldwide 2021)
- PewResearch
- ABC News
- Venture Beat
- Forbes