Market Forecast reports and market data
Documents
Mobile App Predictions for 2024
Mobile market analysts project a dynamic yet uneven 2024 landscape, with generative AI and video-first platforms driving growth while text-centric microblogging contracts.
- Global app store revenue is projected to reach $111.4 billion in 2024, a 4% rebound following a 3% decline in 2023, with the U.S. driving 80% of this growth.
- Gaming expenditure is forecast to rise 4% to $111 billion, with primary growth concentrated in RPG, match-making, party, and casino titles across the U.S., Japan, South Korea, Taiwan, Germany, and the UK.
- TikTok is expected to reach $16 billion in lifetime consumer spend by the end of 2024, with average monthly user hours projected to increase from 32.5 hours in October 2023 to 40 hours by December 2024.
Sensor Tower Global Mobile Gaming Industry Outlook 2024
Global mobile gaming experienced a minor 2% year-on-year decline in in-app purchase revenue in 2023, totaling $76.7 billion.
- Global mobile gaming revenue reached $76.7 billion in 2023, a 2% year-on-year decline, but is projected to recover to $78 billion in 2024 and exceed $100 billion by 2028.
- Consumer spending is shifting toward casual and hybrid-casual models, with casual revenue growing 8% to $28.6 billion and hybrid-casual revenue surging 30% to over $2.1 billion.
- Traditional high-revenue segments, specifically RPGs and Strategy games, experienced a 10% decline in 2023, though they remain the largest categories at $20 billion and $14.8 billion respectively.
Interactive Entertainment 2025: Global Market Sizing & Forecast
The interactive entertainment market is projected to reach $250.2 billion in consumer spending by 2025, representing a 4.6% year-over-year growth.
- The global interactive entertainment market is projected to reach $250.2 billion in consumer spending by 2025, marking a 4.6% year-over-year growth.
- Mobile gaming remains the industry's largest segment, with forecasted consumer spending of $115.7 billion in 2025.
- Console hardware is experiencing a significant cyclical downturn, with spending expected to decline by 31% in 2024 ahead of next-generation device launches.
State of Play: Winter 2024
The analysis projects global gaming revenue to reach approximately $205.7 billion by 2026, up from $106.8 billion in 2023, reflecting an average annual growth rate of 3.9 percent.
- Global gaming revenue is projected to reach $205.7 billion by 2026, growing at an average annual rate of 3.9 percent from its 2023 baseline of $106.8 billion.
- Mobile gaming serves as the primary industry engine, with the sector expected to generate $111.4 billion in spend following 76.8 billion app downloads across iOS and Google Play in the first half of 2023.
- Consumer spending experienced high volatility in 2023, surging by 60 percent early in the year before stabilizing within a range of –10 percent to +20 percent.
Games Market Trends 2024
This analysis examines the 2024 global games market, forecasting a period of recovery and strategic restructuring following the post-pandemic market correction.
- The global games market is entering a recovery phase with a projected Compound Annual Growth Rate (CAGR) of +1.3% through 2026.
- The live-service market is consolidating, with just 19 titles currently capturing 60% of total player engagement, prompting a strategic shift back toward premium, finite gaming experiences.
- Developers are increasingly mitigating financial risk by prioritizing established Intellectual Property and sequels over new, unproven concepts.
Study Report on African Video Games: Premier Results in Francophone Countries
The study investigates the emerging video-game ecosystem in West Africa, focusing on Senegal, Côte d’Ivoire and Cameroon, to assess current player demographics, awareness of locally produced titles, and the factors shaping market potential.
- Awareness of locally developed games is extremely low, with over 82% of gamers in Senegal, Côte d’Ivoire, and Cameroon reporting they have never heard of an African-produced title.
- Financial infrastructure is a major barrier to monetization, as approximately 51% of surveyed gamers lack a bank card to facilitate in-game purchases.
- The market is dominated by a young, mobile-first demographic, with 45% of players aged 19–25 and over 80% utilizing Android devices.
Global PC Games Market Report 2024
The global PC gaming market reached record heights in 2023, generating $9 billion in revenue from 580 million units sold on Steam.
- The global PC gaming market is highly concentrated, with the top 10 games generating 61% of total revenue and the top 100 titles capturing 91% of the market share.
- In 2023, the PC market reached $9 billion in revenue from 580 million units sold on Steam, marking a recovery from stagnation between 2020 and 2022.
- Consumer preference shifted toward high-quality, story-focused premium titles, causing them to outperform live-service models during the 2023 period.
Our Games Industry Predictions for 2024
The global gaming industry is undergoing a structural transformation in 2024, characterized by a shift toward cross-platform accessibility and the integration of generative AI into development workflows.
- Venture capital investment in independent gaming studios has declined by 50%, forcing developers to prioritize established platform ecosystems or live-service 'forever games' for financial sustainability.
- Microsoft’s strategy of prioritizing cross-platform distribution via Game Pass is challenging the traditional hardware-centric model favored by competitors like Sony.
- Generative AI is being adopted as a productivity multiplier for pre-production and operations, though human oversight remains critical to maintain quality and potentially serve as a premium market differentiator.
Mobile Gaming Market in 2024 with Lexi Sydow of Data.ai
The mobile gaming industry is currently navigating a period of intense consolidation and structural adjustment, marked by a challenging environment for smaller startups.
- The mobile gaming market is shifting away from traditional core genres like strategy, RPG, and casino games, which have seen a consistent decline since 2021.
- Privacy-centric changes such as IDFA have fundamentally increased user acquisition costs and forced developers to abandon speculative development in favor of data-backed strategies.
- Growth in 2024 is increasingly driven by genre hybridization and expansion into emerging geographic markets, specifically India and South Korea.
Games Industry: Trends 2023 and Predictions 2024
The global gaming industry is currently undergoing a structural transition from the rapid, acquisition-fueled expansion of the pandemic era toward a disciplined focus on profitability and operational efficiency.
- Mobile gaming experienced a 5% decrease in consumer spending last year, marking a shift from the pandemic-era surge as the market returns to a higher, yet stabilized, post-COVID baseline.
- Developers are increasingly using 'bait-and-switch' onboarding tactics, such as incorporating merge, tower defense, or puzzle mechanics in tutorials to lower CPI, before transitioning players into core 4X strategy gameplay.
- TikTok has emerged as a major competitor for user attention and spending, moving into the top five ad networks for gaming and capturing significant consumer wallet share, with US users accounting for 40% of its total spend.
BITKRAFT Summit 2023: Market Outlook -Zig when others Zag - Full Video
The BITKRAFT Summit 2023 market outlook provides a comprehensive analysis of the gaming industry’s venture capital landscape amidst broader macroeconomic uncertainty.
- Global gaming venture capital deal value has declined approximately 85% from 4Q21 to 3Q23, mirroring a broader 66% drop in aggregate global venture funding over the same period.
- Gaming venture funding has undergone a mean reversion, with current investment levels returning to pre-pandemic 2020 baselines, signaling that high-conviction investors remain active while lower-conviction players have exited.
- Asia has emerged as a dominant force in the gaming venture landscape, accounting for approximately 50% of global venture deal value and 49% of global deal volume.
Microsoft’s Done Deal / Predicting Holiday Hits / When Will Layoffs End?
The gaming industry is currently navigating a significant strategic reset following the finalization of the Microsoft-Activision Blizzard acquisition.
- The Microsoft-Activision Blizzard acquisition marks a strategic shift away from mega-deals toward internal studio integration and operational efficiency.
- Macroeconomic pressures and the end of cheap capital have triggered widespread industry layoffs and the cancellation of long-term projects to focus on proven, high-performing titles.
- Future consolidation is expected to focus on smaller acquisitions and private equity-led streamlining, with EA and Capcom identified as potential targets for media conglomerates.