Global Games Market Will Reach $70.4 Billion in 2013

By Gaming Business Review

According to Newzoo’s 2013 Global Games Market Report, game revenues will grow to $70.4 billion worldwide this year, representing a 6% year-on-year increase. The number of gamers is expected to surpass 1.2 billion by the end of the year. Regional growth in game spending is highest in Latin America and the Asia-Pacific region: 11%. North America and Europe will show very modest growth. The market for smartphone and tablet games will grow 35% to $12.3bn, easily outpacing any other segment.  In terms of game spending per screen, the PC grosses the largest share with 39% or $27.6bn. 

The 2013 Global Games Market Report is a result of a continuous research effort combining transactional data, primary consumer research and extensive analysis of reported revenues into Newzoo’s new global data model. This model calculates the absolute numbers of players, payers and average spend per segment for over 100 individual countries, representing over 90% of the worldwide population and is continuously updated with new information.

The Asia-Pacific market will reach $25.1 billion this year, making it the biggest games market in the world.  Despite a year-on-year increase of 11%, Latin America remains a relatively small market with revenues of $3.0 billion. The North American market will total $22.8 billion (+2% y-o-y) followed by EMEA with $19.5 billion (+4% y-o-y) .

Consoles remain the highest revenue generating platform, with $30.6 billion (-1%  y-o-y) equal to 43% of global games revenues. This includes all DLC spend and business-to-consumer second-hand trade. Traditional PC gaming (downloads and boxed) contracts slightly to $6.0 billion (-7% y-o-y), but this is offset by 14% year-on-year growth for MMO games, totaling $14.9 billion. Game revenues generated by tablet and smartphones will gross 18% of the global games market, surpassing $12bn, which is roughly double the amount spent on games for handheld consoles.

When plotting the 2013 revenue estimates in this model, the largest screen is the Computer Screen – this encompasses boxed or downloaded, casual, social and MMO games – , generating 39% of all revenues compared to 36% for the TV or Entertainment Screen. The Personal Screen or mobile phone, will show global growth of 22% y-o-y and accounts for 12% of global games market revenues. Within the category of Floating Screens, the shift from handheld consoles to tablets is illustrated by the anticipated 78% growth for tablets and 21% decline in spending on handheld console games. Over time, global revenues are expected to grow towards a more equal divide across the four typical screens.

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