The U.S. video game industry couldn’t be stronger right now, as the Xbox One and PlayStation 4 continue to be big sellers, while the eSports community continues to grow at a rapid pace. In fact, if numbers are any indication, it’s likely to get even bigger.
VentureBeat has reported that the industry will grow 30 percent from $15 billion this past year all the way to $19.6 billion by 2019, based on numbers reported by accounting firm PwC. That shows an overall annual growth rate of 5.5 percent.
This includes not only the traditional console games market (for both digital and physical releases) but also the PC market, which has been thriving again thanks to a number of new products on Steam and other services. These numbers also include browser-based games, apps and game advertising, which play a tremendous part in the market right now.
That said, there is a slight waning in interest. In overall media and entertainment market numbers, it’s managed to drop .4 percent over the last five years, from 2.9 percent to 2.5 percent. However, that’s not nearly as big of a drop as filmed entertainment, which went from 6.3 percent to 4.6 percent in that same time frame.
But as you can see from the chart above, games aren’t going anywhere soon. A slow but steady growth in millions of dollars is expected over the next few years, fueled by a number of popular franchises. Social/casual games (both app and browser based), PC games and others intend to pick up in numbers as well.
Granted, some factors aren’t being considered in the report, like hardware sales of gaming PC’s, consoles and other devices that run games. However, based on these measurements, the software’s the thing, and with the introduction of new and familiar franchises alike, business is likely to continue booming.
That business will reach critical heights in just a couple of weeks at the Electronic Entertainment Expo in Los Angeles, where game makers from around the world will showcase its upcoming products for the next year and beyond. There are already many waves from revealed projects that will be at the show, including Bethesda’s Fallout 4, which was unveiled this morning. Since the trailer’s debut, it’s become a huge success in social media, indicating that it’ll be another best seller for the company. The trailer is below.
