Newzoo Expects Global Games Market Revenue to Fall for First Time in 15 Years

The global games market is projected to experience its first revenue decline in 15 years, with total earnings for 2022 expected to reach $184.4 billion. This represents a 4.3% year-over-year decrease, marking a significant correction following two years of pandemic-fueled growth. While the industry faces a downturn, analysts characterize this as a temporary adjustment, projecting a recovery to $211.2 billion by 2025 with a compound annual growth rate of 3.4%.

Platform performance varies significantly, with mobile gaming suffering the sharpest decline at 6.4% to $92.2 billion, attributed to the end of pandemic lockdowns, inflationary pressures, and privacy-related changes in mobile advertising. The console market is also down 4.2% to $51.8 billion, largely due to a lack of major AAA releases and supply chain delays. Conversely, the PC segment remains the only major category to see growth, albeit a modest 0.5%, reaching $40.5 billion.

Geographically, the Asia-Pacific region remains the largest market, accounting for 48% of global revenue despite a 5.6% decline. China and the United States continue to lead as the top two individual markets, together representing 49% of total global spending. Other major regions, including North America and Europe, are also seeing contraction. Despite these immediate headwinds, the long-term outlook remains positive, as gaming is considered deeply embedded in consumer behavior. Analysts note that historical forecasts have occasionally been conservative, suggesting the final year-end figures could potentially outperform these current projections.