The gaming industry has grown tremendously over the past 18 months. Due to the pandemic, the distribution mechanisms of games have changed, and people have more time to play. How will the industry develop further?
According to the latest events and news, the gaming industry is likely to have a market size of over $190 billion. At the same time, we will witness 3 billion gamers in the industry involved.
Coronavirus Pandemic Changed a Lot
The coronavirus pandemic, which started in 2020, changed a lot for the gaming industry. Because of the lockdown, people were forced to remain home and they moved to gaming actively. Streaming platforms, online gaming and eSports have gone through numerous changes and the trend shows no signs of slowing down. According to the Marketing Manager of OpenPlay Tech, Kishore Palakodeti, digital adventures have become a hobby for people.
Mobile Gaming is a New Trend
In terms of gaming, a massive impact was made by mobile phones. According to Palakodeti, the trend of mobile gaming will grow and the introduction of cloud technology will significantly affect the playing experience, which is changing in India.
The Online Gambling Sector is Rising
When we talk about the spike in gaming in India, it should be noted that online gambling is actively increasing as well. The same coronavirus pandemic shifted people’s attention to the online gambling industry. As there were no opportunities to bet on eSports and traditional sports, they moved to play slots, keno game, poker, live casino activities, and roulette among others. According to the trends, 2022 will be even more impressive for this sector.
India is a very unusual country when it comes to gambling laws. Not every state allows online gambling and games of chance but people still find a way to access different online casinos. Keno that we have mentioned above remains one of the most popular games in terms of the growing number of customers in India.
New frontier for the gaming industry
Experts predict that the volume of the industry will cross the $ 200 billion threshold by 2023 and reach $218.7 billion by 2024.
By the end of 2021, nearly three billion players worldwide spent approximately $175.8 billion on games. Of these, the mobile market accounted for $90.7 billion in profits – this is 52% of the global games market.
Residents of the Asia-Pacific region spent $88.2 billion on games, and residents of North America (even though there are much fewer players there) – $42.6 billion. The Middle East and Africa brought in the least income – 6.3 billion.
In the past year, the market has grown due to the fact that experienced players had more free time (including due to the pandemic), which they often spent in games. According to Tom Weyman, director of marketing at Newzoo, people lacked communication during the pandemic and used games to socialize.
New trends
Treating games as a platform for socialization and the emergence of meta-universes is notable (vast game worlds that give players ample opportunities for creativity, self-realization and socialization). Google sees this format as the next evolutionary step in the industry and encourages developers to take a new direction.
According to analysts, in the metaverse, players most of all want to be able to choose the appearance of their avatar and customize characters and environments.
The metauniverses include Fortnite, Minecraft, and Roblox. In the wake of the success of this format, Mark Zuckerberg and Microsoft announced their metauniverses.
Growing demand for subscriptions and paid services on consoles, PCs and smartphones is also noteworthy.catalogs are available immediately and at a fixed price, people don’t have to pay for each game separately, instead they pay monthly for a subscription.
Forecasting the behavior of the gaming audience in the future
The issue of audience consistency is becoming more important. 26% + of new players and 18% of veterans plan to reduce the time they spend on average playing games. 65-70% of new and fickle players plan to continue playing at the same level even after the pandemic, and more than 30% – continue to consume content from streaming services, especially those related to eSports.
In Europe, the Middle East and Africa, user preferences are very different, especially in the choice of gaming platforms: this is the most diverse gaming region in the world. For example, Europe is home to 4 of the 10 largest gaming markets (Germany, UK, France and Italy), while the Middle East is one of the most promising and fastest-growing.
This has the potential for sustainable growth in some areas of the market and for a very large increase in profit from each specific user in others.
At the same time, the console market occupies 45% of the total games market, the mobile market – 35%, and the remaining 20% - personal computers. Despite the large size of the console market, the mobile industry remains the fastest growing.
Santosh Kumar is a Professional SEO and Blogger, With the help of this blog he is trying to share top 10 lists, facts, entertainment news from India and all around the world.