Global games market estimated to hit $108.9bn in 2017

The global video games market is expected to grow by 7.8 per cent in 2017.

That’s according to Newzoo’s Global Games Market Report, which predicts that total worldwide games revenue will reach $108.9bn this year. Digital games will account for $94.4bn of this.

Mobile will be the most lucrative segment, claiming 42 per cent of the market, with smartphone and tablet gaming growing 19 per cent year-on-year and reaching a value of $46.1bn. Newzoo predicts mobile will claim over half the market by 2020.

Still, despite mobile’s dominance, the console sector continues to perform better than expected, with Sony and Microsoft generating $14bn in first party revenues, third party fees and subscriptions between them. In 2017 digital is expected to claim 65.8 per cent of all console revenue.

PC is actually expected to drop slightly in 2017, thanks to the shift to mobile. Newzoo points out that Facebook’s gaming revenues hit a five year low in 2016, while Zynga’s PC revenues fell by 30 per cent. Overall is forecasts a nine per cent drop in the PC segment.

Furthermore, by 2019 it expects PC to have fallen to $24.5bn – that’s a big decrease from its previous $29bn forecast.

Asia Pacific is the largest single region, with China alone predicted to generate $27.5bn – that’s a quarter of global games revenue. In total APAC will account for 47 per cent of total game revenues this year, it is predicted.