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Worldwide Gaming Market Hits $91 Billion In 2016, Says Report (venturebeat.com)
According to a new SuperData Research report, the worldwide gaming market was worth a whopping $91 billion this year, with mobile gaming leading the way with a total estimated market value of $41 billion. The PC gaming market did very well too, as it pulled in nearly $36 billion over the year. PC Gamer reports: The mobile game segment was the largest at $41 billion (up 18 percent), followed by $26 billion for retail games and $19 billion for free-to-play online games. New categories such as virtual reality, esports, and gaming video content were small in size, but they are growing fast and holding promise for 2017, SuperData said. Mobile gaming was driven by blockbuster hits like Pokemon Go and Clash Royale. The mobile games market has started to mature and now more closely resembles traditional games publishing, requiring ever higher production values and marketing spend. Monster Strike was the No. 1 mobile game, with $1.3 billion in revenue. VR grew to $2.7 billion in 2016. Gaming video reached $4.4 billion, up 34 percent. Consumers increasingly download games directly to their consoles, spending $6.6 billion on digital downloads in 2016. PC gaming continues to do well, earning $34 billion (up 6.7 percent) and driven largely by free-to-play online titles and downloadable games. Incumbents like League of Legends together with newcomers like Overwatch are driving the growth in PC games. PC gamers also saw a big improvement with the release of a new generation of graphics cards, offering a 40 percent increase in graphics power and a 20 percent reduction of power consumption.
That is $91 billion in money that could have been spent on more useful things, and billions of hours of lost productivity. This is an incredibly disappointing statistic, to know just how much money and time we waste on things that just aren't important.
At the same time AAA-games are becoming more like movies with less interaction and more passive watching of cutscenes, and this will continue until there is no distinguishing element between film and game left.
Can we please all try to bury the myth once and for all that gaming is niche or a childs hobby. Jokes about people in basements aside, isn't it time gaming was recognised as a legitimate hobby?
not like we have much of a fucking choice in the matter. publishers have, for years now, been pushing digital-only distribution (and one-time use serials for physical media) to kill second hand sales.
captcha: steamed
Is it considered "download", "PC", "retail", ...? How would the researchers even know, considering that Valve is not (to the best of my knowledge) publishing data on its sales?
I'm probably missing something here but I thought home consoles were supposed to be a big chunk of the gaming market. But with $91bil total of which $41bil is mobile and $36bil is PC, that 'only' leaves $14bil max for home consoles. Is that right?
I've long wondered if and when there may be backlash coming to the gaming world for "free to play" games. These games seem to fall into 3 general categories:
1) Games that are truly "pay to win". If you pay money, you get the better in-game goods that allow you a competitive edge over your opponents, often with features that can *only* be unlocked through payments. Those who don't pay stay at a significant disadvantage.
2) Games that are "pay to advance". Nobody can pay to gain in-game goods that others couldn't get by playing the game for free and getting in-game currency. But you may be able to get a slight temporary edge by paying to unlock features before others do. I would also put single player games like Candy Crush into this category, as there is no practical way to advance at a steady pace without payment.
3) Games that are "pay for cosmetics". In-game goods are acquired by game actions that anyone can take. Those with more time to devote to the game are at an advantage, but this can be an overall positive for the game's community if they are not given significant inherent bonuses for having played more, other than the knowledge they have about the game mechanics. The only things people can pay for are cosmetic items that change the look and feel of the game, but don't offer any competitive advantage.
The problem with all of the options, though, is that they prey upon impulsive people with addictive personalities who don't know when or how to stop. I suspect that within 10 years enough data will have been gathered and exposed about user habits that legislation will be enacted that will make "free to play" nowhere near profitable enough to be as prevalent as it is now.
and STILL haven't seen a good release day for PC games in 2016 for $60 titles...Dishonored 2, Batman...I'm looking at YOU.