In 2022, 3.2 billion players will help the global games market generate $184.4 billion, down 4.3% year on year. By 2025, as the prediction of Newzoo, this number will grow to 3.5 billion players generating $211.2 billion.
2022 will be a corrective year for the games market following two years of lockdown. The primary driver of this decline across the world is mobile, which will generate revenues of $92.2 billion this year, representing a decline of 6.4%.
Players
Globally, the number of players will grow from 2.9 billion in 2020 to 3.5 billion in 2025, a five-year CAGR of 4.2%. The past two years (2020 and 2021) saw not only record-level engagement and spending but also brought many new and lapsed players back to the pastime.
Despite lockdown measures easing and people returning to their regular lives (and spending), the global number of players will reach new heights in 2022, growing 4.6% to reach 3.2 billion – a result of gaming’s growing popularity among younger generations as other generations also continue to age (and play games).
Growth regions like Latin America and the Middle East and Africa will drive mụch of this growth in 2022 and the years beyond. Player growth drivers in these regions include better mobile internet infrastructure, affordable access to the internet, and a growing middle class. The affordability of gaming as a pastime due to the free-to-play model, the growing number of smartphone owners, and the importance of apps in growth markets mean we expect player numbers to grow even in the face of inflation.
2022 Game Revenues
The pandemic might have had a positive impact on game-related engagement in its initial years, but it also caused many challenges for the business and game creation. Supply shortages, disrupted supply lines, and studios adjusting to work-from-home environments led to countless game delays and consumers being unable to find new generation components.
The Asia-Pacific games market will decline 5.6% year on year to $87.9 billion in 2022. The corrective factor of post-lockdown spending is especially notable in the three major Asian markets: China, Japan and South Korea. The Asia-Pacific region is forecast to decline most out of all major regions.
Meanwhile, regions populated with mobile-first growth markets will see modest growth this year, with the Middle East and Africa growing 6.6% to $6.8 billion and Latin America growing 3.4% to $8.4 billion in 2022.
Revenue Forecasts
Gaming’s continued strong growth trajectory, even in the face of stabilization following 2020’s boom – is a testament to the market’s power, innovation, and resilience. COVID-19-related delays mean we will see many of the hit games that were supposed to launch this year instead of release in 2023 and 2024, which we believe will be some of gaming’s best years ever in terms of quality content that consumers love.
ABI Game Studio
