Newzoo shared a report on the state of the gaming industry in 2023. The audience research is based on a survey of over 74,000 people from 36 countries aged 10 to 65. Revenue data does not include taxes, advertising, or hardware sales.

Gaming Industry Revenue 2023

  • By the end of 2023, the gaming market will grow by 2.6% to reach $187.7 billion.
  • $92.6 billion (49%) is mobile market revenue. Newzoo believes that the growth of this segment will be limited. The reason is the platforms’ regular policies regarding user data. At the end of 2023, it will grow by 0.8%.
  • The console market grew by 7.4% to $56.1 billion. Newzoo analysts note that this segment underperformed in 2022 due to postponements of major releases and a shortage of consoles.
  • PC-segment revenue will reach $37.1 billion in 2023. That’s up 1.6% from a year earlier. Browser-based PC games continue to decline rapidly, down 16.9% year-over-year. This segment will reach $1.9 billion in 2023.
  • 46% of gaming revenue ($85.5 billion) is concentrated in Asia-Pacific. 27% ($51.6 billion) is in North America. 18% ($34.4 billion) is in Europe. 5% ($8.8 billion) is in Latin America. 4% ($7.2 billion) in the Middle East and Africa. This region is growing the fastest, at 6.9% per year.
  • Newzoo believes that the gaming market has stabilized after the pandemic growth and subsequent correction. By the end of 2026, the market will reach $212.4 billion.
  • Mobile game revenues account for 49% of the global market, with a year-on-year dip of -1.6%, while console gaming is acting as the most significant growth driver. While console games represent 29% of the year’s total revenue, the segment shows the highest growth by a wide margin. Browser PC games are seeing the largest year-on-year revenue drop (-16.9% year-on-year).

Game users

  • The number of gamers in the world will reach 3.38 billion. This is a 6.3% increase from a year earlier.
  • 2.856 billion players play on mobile devices, 892 million on PCs, and 629 million on consoles.
  • 53% of the total gaming audience is concentrated in the Asia-Pacific region. 17% are in the Middle East and Africa (this is also the fastest-growing region in terms of users – +12.3% per year). 13% in Europe, 10% in Latin America, 7% in North America.
  • The number of paying players will grow by 7.3% to 1.47 billion by the end of 2023. The average annual growth rate from 2021 to 2026 is expected to be 4.7%, with 1.66 billion paying players by the end of 2026.

Gaming Industry Companies 2023

  • Tencent is the largest publicly traded company in terms of gaming revenue. It will earn $7.556 billion in 2023.
  • Microsoft and Activision Blizzard will have a combined revenue of $5.413 billion. That makes Microsoft the second-largest gaming revenue company in the world. Sony has $4.38 billion in 2023.

Cloud gaming

In 2023, the number of paying users will be in the neighborhood of 43.1 million. By 2025, that number should nearly double to 80.4 million.

Gaming Industry Trends 2023

  1. The boom of live-service gaming continues. But it’s very difficult for new players to launch.
  2. AI is changing development approaches in the game industry.
  3. Complimentary gaming devices are becoming more popular. Newzoo lists Steam Deck and Nintendo Switch as one of them.
  4. Mobile game studios continue to adapt to changing regulations amidst platform regulation.
  5. UGC, the creative economy, and opinion leaders are becoming a critical part of the success of games and studios.
  6. Apple is getting into VR; Meta still believes in the direction. There is growth.
  7. Development of the Saudi Arabian gaming market (kudos to Savvy Games Group). Strengthening the position of developers from China and Japan.

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