The gaming industry is always changing and last year the industry saw one of its biggest growth spurts to date. Video games have become a bigger industry than movies and North American sports combined. The global video game revenue topped 159.3 billion US dollars and is expected to pass the 200 billion dollar mark by 2023. The global film industry reached $100 billion for the first time in 2019 the Motion Picture Association mentioned, while the North American sports market is valued at over 71 billion US dollars and is expected to breach the $83 billion mark by 2023.
eSports
The global eSports market was valued at over 1.08 billion US dollars. eSports revenue is expected to reach 1.62 billion US dollars in 2024, indicating that the industry will grow quickly with the majority of these revenues coming from sponsorships and advertising. eSports came a long way since the first Space Invaders championship in 1980. Improvements in technology and game design as well the constant influx of newly developed games helped to cement esports as an entertainment alternative, or even a career option for some.
Social Gaming
The global social gaming market is worth an approximate 78.92 billion US dollars and is expected to reach the 98.8 billion mark by 2024. Platforms like Twitch allow gamers to stream the current game they are playing and communicate with viewers. Twitch’s Partner Program grew 68% since 2017 with over 2.2 million creators broadcasting their games live every month. The majority of Twitch users are games that host and share various eSports events and challenges. Some of the most watched games on this platform include League of Legends, Counter-Strike: Global Offensive and Dota 2.
Roguelike Gaming
The subgenre derives its name from the classic 1980’s game, Rogue, and has gone from indie gamer obsession to popping up in some notable games. Roguelike games are characterized by high difficulty curves and randomized elements that can result in quick character death. The player is often encouraged to try again. Games like Hades and Loop Hero fall into this subgenre.
Games like Diablo are characterized by dungeon crawling, turn-based gameplay, procedurally generated levels, permanent character death and grid-based movement which are all hallmarks of roguelike gaming. The classic 1987 NetHack, with randomly generated levels and steep difficulty curve, is a great example of retro games in the subgenre.
Cloud-based Gaming
Globally the cloud-based gaming market was valued at 0.47 billion US dollars in 2020 and is expected to grow at a compound annual growth rate of 48.2% from 2021 to 2027. The rising popularity of cloud-based gaming as well as cross-platform gameplay is expected to drive growth in this market. The rapid growth in 5G technology and the improvement in latency (response times) also creates an opportunity for cloud-based gaming on mobile.
According to Newzoo, the “Cyberpunk 2077 launch has underlined one of cloud gaming’s biggest use cases: high-fidelity experiences without the need for expensive hardware.” The game suffered from poor technical performance, but cloud gaming services such as Stadia and GeForce Now stood out as one of the best ways for gamers to enjoy instantly optimized graphics.
Virtual Reality
Extended reality technologies (virtual, augmented and mixed reality) are still in early phases of adoption, but are changing rapidly. It is expected that 17.7 – 28.1% of the US population will use VR and AR at least once a month during 2021. Roughy 93.3 million people are expected to use augmented reality at least once per month. Thanks to the innovations of Facebook’s Oculus Quest that was launched in 2019, VR has become more mainstream. “Virtual reality has the potential to provide full immersion and interaction. VR is where the internet was 20 years ago; it’s a nascent but high-growth market that has the power to change everything,” Jonathan Ovadia, CEO at AEXLAB shared.
The global gaming market is expected to grow even more with the increasing proliferation of mobile phones and the easy availability of games online. Hardware and software innovations along with the growing adoption of free-to-play mobile and browser games is another trend that is expected to feed industry growth. Individuals seeking different gaming experience can try their hand at New Zealand entertainment sites.