In their new report on the state of the gaming industry for the last reporting year, Newzoo analyses the overall state of the market, and talk about the best games and the major changes affecting the industry. I'll cover everything in more detail in this analysis article.
Profit growth, although small, is still present. The PC and console market grew 2.6% to $93.5 billion in 2023. The console market size was $53.1 billion (+1.7% YoY). The PC market size grew to $40.4 billion (+3.9% YoY).
Paid games accounted for 56% of revenue on PC and 57% of revenue on consoles in the US and UK markets. Microtransactions had 30% (PC) and 33% (consoles); paid downloadable content had 12% (PC) and 8% (consoles). Subscriptions accounted for the rest.
Overall Gaming Market Status for 2023
Profit growth, although small, is still present. The PC and console market grew 2.6% to $93.5 billion in 2023. The console market size was $53.1 billion (+1.7% YoY). The PC market size grew to $40.4 billion (+3.9% YoY).
Paid games accounted for 56% of revenue on PC and 57% of revenue on consoles in the US and UK markets. Microtransactions had 30% (PC) and 33% (consoles); paid downloadable content had 12% (PC) and 8% (consoles). Subscriptions accounted for the rest.
Revenue growth is limited by slowing audience growth. From 2018 to 2021 on PC, audience growth was 4% per year; from 2021 to 2023, audience growth was 0.9% per year; from 2023 to 2026, audience growth is projected at 1.6%. On consoles, audiences grew 8.9 per cent per year from 2018 to 2021; 3.8 per cent per year from 2021 to 2023; 3 per cent per year from 2023 to 2026, projected to grow by 3 per cent per year.
Fortnite, Roblox, Minecraft, GTA V and the Call of Duty series are the leaders on PC and consoles in terms of active users per month (MAU), if you exclude Nintendo Switch. However, more remarkably, the average age of projects in the top 10 by MAU is 9.6 years on PC, 7.4 years on PlayStation, 7.2 years on Xbox, and 3.9 years on Nintendo Switch. This indicates that it is extremely difficult for new games to displace the leaders that have already established themselves in the market. People keep coming back to these popular projects.
Fortnite, Roblox, Minecraft, GTA V and the Call of Duty series are the leaders on PC and consoles in terms of active users per month (MAU), if you exclude Nintendo Switch. However, more remarkably, the average age of projects in the top 10 by MAU is 9.6 years on PC, 7.4 years on PlayStation, 7.2 years on Xbox, and 3.9 years on Nintendo Switch. This indicates that it is extremely difficult for new games to displace the leaders that have already established themselves in the market. People keep coming back to these popular projects.
Are users getting less gaming?
People have been playing less on PCs and consoles since 2021. The total amount of time spent playing games in the fourth quarter of 2023 was 26% less compared to the first quarter of 2021.
In 2023, 61% of all gaming time on PCs and consoles was spent on games older than 5 years. Another 16% of playtime was taken up by games that were between 3 and 5 years old. In 2022 and 2021, the situation was better.
In 2023, Fortnite (released in 2017), Roblox (2006), League of Legends (2009), Minecraft (2011) and GTA V (2013) accounted for 27% of users' total gaming time. If we look at new games released in 2022 and earlier, which took up 23% of playtime in 2023, the situation is as follows: 90% of the time was spent on 48 projects, while the remaining 10% of time was distributed among more than 1,400 projects.
What is the situation with publishers and users?
The number of publishers on the market has been declining since 2021. In 2023, there were 23 publishers (plus 5 more that occasionally charted) continuously present; they accounted for over 80% of active users per month (MAU) on PC and consoles.
Overall, the number of games played by users hasn't changed since 2021. The only thing that has decreased is the amount of time they spend playing games. Newzoo credits the success of remasters and re-releases. Square Enix sold over 7 million copies of Final Fantasy VII Remake and Capcom successfully released Resident Evil 4 Remake with over 6 million copies sold. Konami is also preparing remakes of MGS 3 and Silent Hill 2.
