The latest Newzoo forecast has been revealed, and for the first time, their forecast predicts a game market decline. According to the report, the gaming industry will see a downward trend of 4.3%. However, despite this, the outlook for the gaming industry in the long term will remain positive regardless.
How is this possible? Well, Newzoo believes that 2022 is a corrective year following two years of lockdown-fueled growth for the global games market. “Looking back at our pre-pandemic forecast for the games market (from January 2020), revenues in 2020 and 2021 were much higher than we anticipated back then, while 2022 is slightly lower.“
Speaking of which, the PC games market will remain resilient compared to the Mobile and console games markets. Newzoo’s forecast states that this market will generate $40.5 billion in 2022, up +0.5% year on year. PC Gaming’s revenues aren’t hit-driven as console gaming and, as such, a year that’s light on game releases such as 2022 will affect PC Gaming revenues less than it would on console or mobile. Not to mention, the revenues continue increasing in China and Japan.
The mobile gaming market is going to lose a lot compared to the other markets. The main reason for this is that, as mentioned before, players had engaged with mobile games less than when the pandemic was in full effect. Moreso, the current economic climate, especially inflation, limits people’s disposable income. While this affects all kinds of video game spending, not just mobile, Newzoo found that it hits this sector the hardest.
The console games market will suffer a decline as well. The Newzoo forecast explains that the console segment is having a slow year as the release schedule throughout 2022 remains light. As mentioned before, the console market is still hit-driven, and the lack of AAA releases still hurts it. While some blockbusters were recently launched (such as Call of Duty Modern Warfare 2 and God of War Ragnarok), Newzoo doesn’t expect these hits to offset the decline itself.
Regardless of these predictions, the future of the games market remains bright as the coming years look promising, particularly for console gaming. Newzoo estimates that the games market will grow from $179.1 billion in 2020 to $211.2 billion by 2025, growing at a +3.4 CAGR. Newzoo predicts that console gaming will grow rapidly in the coming years as there’s going to be loads of new content for PS5 and Xbox Series console users.
This year showed that players are going to spend less during tougher economic times. However, engagement across all segments remains high, and the number of players across the globe continues to increase. It’s hard to believe, but the games market has remained strong despite many turbulent economic times, and now free-to-play and subscription services have opened a way for everyone to play.
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