The Video Games Market, Bolstered By Mobile Gaming, To Become A $300bn Industry By 2025

The video games market will more than double to become a $300bn-plus industry by 2025

GlobalData's latest thematic report, 'Video Games', highlights that the video games market will grow from $131bn in 2018 to $305bn in 2025, at a compound annual growth rate (CAGR) of 13%.

Mobile gaming has already outstripped

the console and personal computer (PC) markets. Over the coming years, with the increased maturity of streaming (supported by 5G), cloud services, and mobile esports, combined with the fact that mobile platforms are close to technical parity with their PC and console rivals, more gamers will shift towards mobile gaming platforms, driving the expansion of this market to over $100bn by 2022, up from $55bn in 2018. Ed Thomas, Principal Analyst for Technology Thematic Research commented:

“Today’s video games industry is in the throes of a huge transformation from a product-oriented business to an as-a-service model. At the same time, new technologies like 5G, cloud, and virtual reality will usher in a new phase of innovation, while new business models like support for in-game micropayments are already changing the economics of gaming.”

Despite being over 70 years old the video games industry continues to evolve, driven by changing user demands, new channels, and technical innovation. Today’s video games industry is in the throes of a huge transformation

from a product-oriented business to an as-a-service model

. At the same time, new technologies like 5G, cloud, and virtual reality (VR) will usher in a new phase of innovation, while new business models like support for in-game micropayments are already changing the economics of gaming. Streaming, therefore, will drive gaming’s future. Thomas continued:

“Cloud gaming is evolving into a global phenomenon. Major games companies are racing to become the Netflix of games, driven by rapidly increasing viewership on existing streaming channels. However, latency and bandwidth limitations will serve as a brake on the development of mobile gaming services. The maturing of cloud technologies and development of 5G will reduce these network issues, creating an increasingly competitive market in which several leaders have already emerged.”