The online gaming industry has grown exponentially over the last couple of years. Internet speeds make it possible to play even the most advanced games with quite hectic graphic configurations without a hitch.
During the global lockdown, there was a spike in gaming the world over, but more and more people had been playing online games even before COVID-19. It just catalyzed the trends that were already in motion.
Gambling games real money and payouts are starting to make some serious inroads and people can’t seem to get enough. Here are some of the most recent stats and trends of the gaming industry.
General gaming stats and figures
If you want to invest in a company, you might seriously want to consider a company in the gaming industry. There has not been a year since 2000 that the industry has not grown in revenue. Currently, the global game market revenue is worth over $ 164.6 billion and it is expected that the numbers are just going to increase.
Smartphone-based games are leading the pack with a market share of $68.5 billion with console games coming in second at $47.9 billion. PC games have tapered off a bit, but they still account for $35.7 billion.
When it comes to what is being played and the influencers, consumers base 50% of their purchase on whether it has online gaming capabilities. Add a bit of online gambling to the mix on luckynj.com and that figure jumps a bit further.
Who plays what
The gaming industry is so diverse that there is hardly an age group that is not represented. Even folks in their 70s and 80s will play the odd game now and then. However, the biggest gaming cohort belongs to people between the ages of 18 and 34.
Younger audiences enjoy educational games, platformers and puzzle games the most. One of the reasons is because they can be played in short bursts and the majority of them are available on smartphones nowadays.
There is also a decent amount of people who will opt for gambling games as on Nederlandscasinos.net, where they spend real money and gamble on a return. Older gamers are a bit more serious about their gaming and prefer action, adventure and strategy games.
Who are the biggest spenders?
Not all countries are evenly matched when it comes to their share in the gaming industry. The biggest clusters are found in developing countries, though. Asia Pacific is where the big bucks get spent and the online population of Southeast Asia is growing at a healthy rate. Mobile gaming is probably the biggest driver behind this growth.
North America trails behind by some distance. Where China generates around 41 % of the gaming market revenue, The USA can only account for 32%, which is still not anything to scoff at.
Battle of the sexes
There is a common belief the great majority of gamers are men, but the ladies are beginning to represent and are not far behind the men. The men still lead the charge, with 54% of the share and women with 46%.
What is interesting though, is that adult women of the video gaming population have reached 33%, which is more than the boys under 18 years old who only make up 17% of the gaming population.
Not only are the casual female gamers picking up in general, but professional female gamers are also on the rise. The most popular female gamer on Youtube has over 17 million subscribers.
How the money is made
When the gaming industry started to boom, most of the revenue was generated by store sales. The internet changed the game, and although most of the money still goes to game purchases, most of these purchases are done online through gaming services like Steam and the Epic store. Steam game sales reached over $4.3 billion in 2017 and they have only grown in popularity.
Free-to-play games use different strategies to generate revenue and they are making a killing. Games like Fortnite, Dota 2, PUBG and League of Legends are putting paid games to shame.
In 2019, Fortnite raked in a massive $1.8 billion in revenue. These numbers were entirely generated by in-game purchases, the bulk of which were cosmetic in nature with 37% of the share.
To Conclude: A look on E-sports
Online gaming is not just a recreational pastime. It has evolved into a professional sport, generating prize pools larger than some of the world's most prestigious tournaments.
Wimbledon has the single largest prize pool of any sport, but right below it in second place is Dota 2 International. In 2018, the total prize pool was a staggering $25.5 million. Part of the reason for this is because of the viewers that esports generate. Only the NFL has more unique viewers than esports in the USA.