Results and Trends of the Gaming Market

How was last year for the gaming industry? This question concerns both developers and players - and can be answered by market analysts. Let’s see what conclusions they’ve drawn and what they predict for the future. Here you can check out latest gaming market news.

Players

Since its decline, global average gaming time has not increased; however, the number of players worldwide continues to grow, reaching 3.42 billion this year. This is an increase of 4.5%, driven mainly by PC gamers, who exceeded 900 million in 2024 (+3.9% on the previous year). The number of mobile gamers reached 2.85 billion; however, the growth here is slightly lower at +3.5%. Finally, the growth of console gamers slowed to +2.3% (630 million). Analysts predict that the total number of players will continue to grow and exceed 3.75 billion by the end of 2027.

The largest share of players is in the Asia-Pacific region (53%), where growth is driven by the markets of Central and Southeast Asia. North America and Europe account for 20% of players. The markets of the Middle East and Africa (16%) and Latin America (11%) are actively developing, with the highest growth rates observed in these regions: +8.2% and +5.6%, respectively.

Gaming Market Revenues

Last year, the gaming market generated revenues of $187.7 billion, up 2.1% from the previous year. The mobile segment remains the leader in terms of revenue, but the PC gaming segment showed the highest growth (+4%). Conversely, the console segment experienced a slight decline (-1%). This is attributed to a relatively small amount of content, making it harder to retain player interest. However, analysts expect the situation to change, with consoles surpassing the PC gaming segment.

The mobile segment’s revenue grew 3% to $92.6 billion, driven by improving economic conditions, the continued strong performance of existing games, and some major releases. However, the share of mobile gaming revenue is likely to decrease in future as other segments gain ground.

Popular game services such as League of Legends, Fortnite, and Counter-Strike continue to attract many players: time spent on these games continues to increase, as does their revenue. In addition, game platforms like Roblox and Fortnite are constantly exploring new ways to attract the interest of younger generations.

It’s worth noting that when it comes to localization, the languages of these countries are the most popular choices.

Cross-platform Releases

One of the trends of the past year has been the increase in cross-platform games. Previously, series like God of War and Final Fantasy were released exclusively on a single platform, encouraging players to purchase the corresponding console. Now, Sony and Microsoft prefer a more open approach. Expanding the audience has become more important than device sales, since a single-platform release does not cover current development costs.

Each company takes a different approach. For example, Sony’s strategy can be described as follows: live-service games are released on multiple platforms simultaneously, key franchises retain temporary exclusivity, and sequels in some cases remain console exclusives.

It’s worth noting that the PC segment benefits the most from the increase in cross-platform releases. Furthermore, games released on multiple platforms can reach a wider audience from a larger number of regions, which undoubtedly requires localization into relevant languages.

ААА Games

This year was a tough year for the AAA segment, which failed to achieve the record-breaking results - except for a few notable releases such as Like a Dragon: Infinite Wealth. Most live-service games, including those based on major franchises, struggled to retain players.

AAA studios will need to find new ways to attract players amid declining global gaming time, a saturated live-service game market, and extremely high development costs. Interestingly, while large-scale, lengthy AAA projects used to attract players, in the current environment such games are proving less competitive. One potential strategy could involve releasing several smaller games instead of a single large project, which would not only reduce development costs but also provide more opportunities for innovation.

AA Games and the Indie Segment

The challenges faced by major projects simultaneously create new opportunities for mid-sized games and independent developers. In recent years, the number of successful indie games has continued to grow. The smaller game size, lower financial pressure, and room for experimentation in this area enable the creation of innovative games that can carve out their niche in the market.

Mobile Games

This year, the mobile market has been heavily impacted by new legislation, especially the “Digital Markets Act” adopted by the EU. Tech giants like Apple and Google were forced to make their ecosystems more open and allow the use of alternative app stores and payment methods. In light of this, Epic Games, Microsoft, and other companies plan to expand their presence in the mobile segment.

Neural Networks

AI technologies continue to develop at an unprecedented pace, raising difficult questions about the future of creativity for representatives of the gaming and other industries. On the one hand, neural networks enable faster content creation. On the other hand, discussions about AI this year focused on mass layoffs at large companies, violations of intellectual property rights, and the quality of generated content. Despite the risks, the influence of neural networks on the current state of the industry cannot be denied. Experts believe that AI technologies won’t replace humans, but rather will significantly accelerate development and contribute to the creative process.

VR Games

VR games continue to face challenges, not only due to the general state of the industry and decreased gaming time but also because of the particularities of the segment. The need to purchase specialized devices amidst economic inflation and a lack of exclusive content makes it difficult to attract and retain players. Nevertheless, major players like Apple and Meta released new VR devices this year — Vision Pro and Meta Quest 3S, respectively — and other companies are also continuing to invest in VR technologies, demonstrating the potential of the virtual reality segment.

F2P Games

Free-to-play games and new monetization strategies transformed the gaming industry in the 2010s. Projects that emerged as a result, such as Fortnite, Roblox, and League of Legends, continue to dominate in terms of player engagement — in fact, their share of gaming time increased in 2024. Gaming time is a key indicator of success for free-to-play games, and new releases have a hard time competing with established titles that have consolidated the segment: user acquisition costs are high, while conversion rates remain low. Of the free-to-play games, only five PC and console games managed to surpass the 0.1% threshold of the total gaming time spent by players.

Additional Success Factors

In the context of declining gaming time and market saturation and consolidation, companies must find new ways to attract and retain players.

Major studios are increasingly relying on sequels (Final Fantasy VII Rebirth), ports (Horizon Forbidden West, Ghost of Tsushima), remakes (Persona 3 Reload), and remasters (The Last of Us Part II) of existing series. Of the AAA games released in the first half of 2024, only four introduced new IPs.

Community management has played an increasingly significant role in the success of games released over the past year and a half. Influencers and social media have long displaced traditional gaming journalism, greatly amplifying the community’s role in a game’s success. Also of increasing importance is “early access” — a form of community engagement that allows developers to assess a game’s appeal and potential profitability while incorporating audience preferences into new content.