Think games still aren’t doing big business? Think again.
Newzoo recently posted its 2015 Global Games Market Report {link no longer active}, which indicates that the overall global games market will reach an all-time high of $91.5 billion for this year, including mobile and consoles. That’s a 9.4 percent increase from last year’s $83.6 billion, indicating that the industry is still quite healthy when it comes to games.
Now the real question comes into play – which country is leading the charge when it comes to the growth of this market The United States has held a grasp for some time now, but the estimates indicate that China could easily take the lead this year. Newzoo reports that an increase of 23 percent this year is enough to provide an edge, even if it is a small one – its market is expected to reach $22.2 billion, with the U.S. closely behind with $22 billion.
As far as what size of screen players are adapting to in the market, Newzoo indicates that PC/Mac computers lead with an estimated 37 percent of the overall market, or $33.7 billion. Closely behind is the Entertainment Screen, consisting of console and virtual markets, with 27 percent, and Personal Screen (or mobile devices/smartwatches) in third place with 23 percent. Floating Screen devices (tablets and handhelds) take up the slack with 13 percent, although handheld game devices have seen a drop of 16 percent. However, tablet sales make up for it, leading to an overall growth of 14 percent for the Floating Screen market.
Virtual reality, which is expected to shake up the market this year with the introduction of various devices, hasn’t yet been considered with its own category, instead being coupled in with others. Smartwatches also aren’t being given their own group, despite the Apple Watch launching in just a few days’ time. However, next year’s report could certainly be different in that regard.
Meanwhile, both APAC and LATAM show growth overall for the year, with China closing in on the United States. APAC shows a 15 percent increase, with overall revenues expected to reach $43.1 billion; while LATAM will reach $4 billion this year, an 18 percent increase from previous numbers. That said, even if the United States does lose the lead, the market is not expected to saturate anytime soon, especially considering the popularity of all its devices, including consoles, mobile and PC/Mac.
The full report can be found here {link no longer active}.