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Gaming is a long-term winning industry

16th March 2021 Print

The 37% revenue growth of the gaming industry in 2020 was partly because of the Covid-19 pandemic. Forced to stay at home and practice social distancing, consumers started demanding new ways to keep themselves amused. Playing video games and online casino games turned out to be a popular way to stay busy and entertained throughout 2020. 

Guest author Klara Czerwinska points out the reasons why gaming is a long-term winning industry. To find out more about Klara Czerwinska, click here.

It is important to point out that the coronavirus pandemic alone is not responsible for the increase in revenues for the gaming industry. As video games have always been popular, the gaming industry has always been poised for quick growth. 

Competition within the industry is going to be tough, but the global gaming revenue will continue to rise in the coming years.

Why the Gaming Industry Will Continue to Grow 

As we already mentioned, the pandemic has played a great role in accelerating the growth of the gaming industry. As it led to the closure of general leisure activities, including sports events, gaming consumption among adults increased. 

There is enough data to show that the average adult in the US spends close to an hour per day on social games online. eSports streaming is becoming especially popular. In 2019, the chief executive officer of Netflix stated that the biggest threat to his company was not HBO or Disney, but Fornite, an immensely popular video game. 

In 2019, the gaming industry generated revenues of $120 billion. Experts analyse that 2.7 billion people will be playing video games on various platforms by 2021. An increase in the use of smartphones and tablets has also contributed to the growth of the gaming industry. Whenever gamers have a moment to spare, they play video games on their mobile phones. 

Here are some revenue stats from SuperData, obtained in 2019. Mobile gaming generated revenue of $64.4 billion, PC gaming generated $29.6 billion, console gaming generated $15.4 billion, game-related videos generated $6.5 billion, and VR and AR gaming generated $6.3 billion. 

Online Casinos Will Increase

Online casinos will continue to see an increase in new players and a demand for more casino games. If you look at Poland, you can see that with each passing year the number of online casino players has continued to grow significantly. 

The demand for multi-vendor slots, table games, live dealer casino games and progressive jackpots will force iGaming operators to partner with both big and small-time gaming developers from around the world. If you are looking for a good online casino in Poland, check out Vulkan Vegas.

Will Growth Decline in 2021? 

The COVID-19 pandemic played a major role in the growth of the gaming industry and the increased equity valuations and share prices of gaming companies. Does this mean that the growth of the gaming industry will decline in 2021 now that vaccines are available and human life is getting back to normal? 

Are consumers going to prioritize socializing, going to movies and parks, and visiting cafes and restaurants over playing video games? This seems highly unlikely as the younger generation has shown a tendency to prefer video games over human interaction. 

Let's consider the example of China. In November 2019, the government of China brought a new law into force, restricting the time minors spend on gaming. The intent of this law was to reduce gaming addiction especially as developers had gotten better at creating games that gave players the sense of being rewarded, making them spend long hours playing the game. 

The new law made things very difficult for the Chinese gaming company Tencent, but it quickly recovered when the pandemic led to increased gaming consumption among adults. If similar laws are brought into force in other countries, they can curb the growth of the gaming industry. 

Video Game Industry Value to Exceed $200 Billion 

So how large is the gaming industry? To give a simple answer to this question, it is larger than any of us can imagine. 

According to a Juniper Research report of September 2020, the video game industry value will become more than $200 billion in 2023 despite predictions that it will face a decline in revenue. Cloud gaming and mobile gaming will be at the head of this growth. 

Here are a few findings and predictions of the Juniper study: 

- 99% of the mobile games downloaded in the following three years will be free-to-play.

- Video game and cloud game subscriptions will increase by 9% per year from 2020 - 2023. 

- Purchase revenue will decrease by 5% in the next three years.

- The most lucrative vertical for in-game purchases will be PC gaming. 

Will the above-mentioned study turn out to be accurate? It is too early to say. But there is no doubt that the winners in the video gaming industry have to create operating models that meet gamers’ demands of today while being flexible enough to meet the requirements of tomorrow.

Conclusion: 

You can take a safe bet that the global gaming industry will continue to grow at a rapid pace during the next decade!