The most-cited annual report on the gaming industry is by UK research firm Newzoo, which released its 2020 edition.
I featured its highlights on TechCrunch, but 2020 revenue is predicted to hit $159B and by 2023 is predicted to surpass $200B. It’s important to note that this report, and the many news articles that cite it, doesn’t include revenue from in-game ads or the market size of consumer-to-consumer trading of digital goods from games, each of which are multi-billion dollar markets (that I’m looking to get credible data on the size of).
The disparity between who plays video games and who spends money on video games is notable…
Distribution of gamers:
- 1,447 million (54%) in Asia-Pacific
- 386 million (14%) in Europe
- 377 million (14%) in Middle East & Africa
- 266 million (10%) in Latin America
- 210 million (8%) in North America
Industry revenue:
- $78.4 billion (49%) from APAC
- $40 billion (25%) from North America
- $29.6 billion (19%) from Europe
- $6 billion (4%) from Latin America
- $5.4 billion (3%) from Middle East & Africa
Annual consumer spend per gamer:
- $190.48 in North America
- $76.68 in Europe
- $54.18 in Asia Pacific
- $22.56 in Latin America
- $14.32 in Middle East & Africa