In 2022, the gaming market for PC and consoles slowed down after two incredibly successful years (especially 2021) fueled by all the lockdowns caused by the COVID pandemic.
Leading gaming market research firm Newzoo estimates in its newest report that PC and console games earned $92.3 billion in revenue last year, a 2.2% decline over 2021. This is mostly due to the console gaming market, which declined by 4.2%, while the PC games market for premium games actually grew by 1.8%. According to Newzoo, there were 1.1 billion PC gamers and 611 million console gamers last year.
The average playtime of PC and console users also decreased by 23% in 2022 compared to 2021. That said, the analysts underline that this isn’t a negative record; the playtime has simply gone back to pre-pandemic levels. Moreover, major delayed games like Nintendo’s The Legend of Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom (now due to hit Nintendo Switch on May 12th) and Bethesda’s Starfield (scheduled to be released for PC and Xbox Series S|X on September 6th) impacted both playtime and spending in 2022.
Even with this decrease, over 100 billion hours were spent playing PC and console games in 2022. An average of 15 games were played per player on each platform, and the average spend in the US market on each platform was $200.
Newzoo also reminds everyone that the PC and console markets still registered a 5.8% CAGR (Compound Annual Growth Rate) from 2015 to 2022.
In fact, going back to their pre-pandemic forecasts for 2020-2022, the gaming market went much better in these three years than originally estimated by Newzoo; the total revenue is $32.8 billion higher.
In 2022, the geographical split between countries and continents remained largely the same. Combined, the United States of America and China account for roughly 48% of spending in the PC and console gaming market.
Newzoo provided a Top 10 chart for monthly active users (MAUs) registered on each main platform (PC, Xbox, PlayStation, and Nintendo). Fortnite topped the Xbox and PlayStation ones but also ranked second on Nintendo and third on PC, demonstrating the resilience of Epic’s popular free-to-play game.
| PC | Xbox | PlayStation | Nintendo Switch | |||||||
| 1 | ROBLOX | 1 | Fortnite | 1 | Fortnite | 1 | Pokémon Scarlet/Violet | |||
| 2 | Call of Duty Modern Warfare II/ Warzone 2.0 | 2 | Call of Duty Modern Warfare II/ Warzone 2.0 | 2 | Call of Duty Modern Warfare II/ Warzone 2.0 | 2 | Fortnite | |||
| 3 | Fortnite | 3 | Grand Theft Auto V | 3 | Grand Theft Auto V | 3 | Fall Guys | |||
| 4 | Minecraft | 4 | Minecraft | 4 | Call of Duty Modern Warfare/Warzone | 4 | Mario Kart 8 | |||
| 5 | Apex Legends | 5 | Call of Duty Modern Warfare/Warzone | 5 | Apex Legends | 5 | Minecraft | |||
| 6 | Call of Duty Modern Warfare/Warzone | 6 | High on Life | 6 | NBA 2K23 | 6 | Pokémon Legends: Arceus | |||
| 7 | The Sims 4 | 7 | ROBLOX | 7 | NBA 2K22 | 7 | Rocket League | |||
| 8 | Overwatch 1& 2 | 8 | Apex Legends | 8 | God of War: Ragnarok | 8 | Animal Crossing: New Horizons | |||
| 9 | Valorant | 9 | Fall Guys | 9 | Minecraft | 9 | Nintendo Switch Sports | |||
| 10 | Counter-Strike: Global Offensive | 10 | NBA 2K22 | 10 | Call of Duty: Black Ops Cold War | 10 | Splatoon 3 |
According to the report, the games that performed the best in 2022 had mixed revenue models (premium plus microtransactions), with in-game spending accounting for nearly half of the total revenue. In the US, the following titles topped their respective launch months:
Newzoo anticipates that PC and console games will soon adopt hybrid monetization models, including in-game advertising, which is more viable than ever. The firm also expects that more triple-A and double-A developers and publishers will dip their toes into the live service strategy for their biggest franchises.
Newzoo forecasts strong growth for the gaming market in 2023 and beyond, mostly fueled by console gaming as you can see in the above slide.
