An nameless reader shares a report: If you happen to’re sufficiently old to recollect when gaming was thought of extra of a distinct segment pastime, particularly amongst these over the age of sixteen, it’d convey a smile to your face to know that 3.2 billion individuals, virtually half the world’s inhabitants, will play video games this yr. They will spend a mixed whole of $184.4 billion on their interest, and whereas that’s down barely in comparison with final yr, it is the results of the pandemic-induced gaming growth of 2020/21.
Newzoo’s newest International Video games Market Report exhibits that the variety of individuals taking part in video games all over the world is up 4.6% this yr. That is particularly spectacular given how extra individuals had been gaming throughout the lockdowns when stay-at-home leisure, corresponding to video video games and streaming, exploded. Not solely had been extra individuals attempting video games for the primary time, however lapsed gamers had been additionally returning. The pandemic additionally noticed an enormous bounce in video games income — development between 2020 and 2022 was $43 billion greater than Newzoo predicted. Not like participant numbers, that hasn’t been sustained post-lockdown, with the $184 billion determine down -4.3% YoY; the primary decline in 15 years. Nonetheless, it is vital to notice that gaming has nonetheless managed to climate 2022’s financial turbulence higher than many different industries.
