The very first video game ever released was Pong, a 2-dimensional tennis game released in 1958 by William Higinbotham. Since it was released, it shaped the entire video gaming industry we know today. The changes were so drastic that the video gaming industry has improved over the years and has grown ten folds now.
To give you a general idea, the video game industry revenue in 1973 was recorded to have generated about $40 million U.S. dollars and over $17.7 billion U.S. dollars just 9 years later in 1982. It’s been 46 years now since the first video game was released so let’s look at how much is the video game industry worth now in 2019.
Spoiler Alert: It is now bigger than music and movies combined.
Video Game Industry (by platform)
The growing popularity of mobile gaming is caused by new hardware such as RAMs and graphics cards that makes the graphics sharper and more stellar. On top of the graphics cards, phones now also utilize 5G networks and faster processing chips that make online mobile gaming more reliable.
Take for example ROG phones that are packed with powerful chips that can take on very demanding mobile games today. Or even Samsung phones that are releasing phones leaned towards that goal. And because mobile phones are becoming a necessity in our lives now, it’s no wonder why smartphones have become the most popular gaming platform today.
Console platforms represent the second-largest share of this year’s video gaming industry revenue. And even though the increase isn’t that prominent compared to mobile phones, the rate is consistent, nonetheless. With new generations packed with more powerful hardware rumored to be released within the next 5 years, we’ll likely see consoles taking more shares annually.
Now even though desktop computers are becoming super popular now with to the point that it has become a necessary household item, you can see in the picture below how the digital copy of games has lost traction through the years.
Even with the games that were just released this year and the upcoming games that were teased on E3, it’s still unlikely that this will become more popular. Because aside from the fact that computers designed for gaming require at least one of the best RTX 2080 cards for a future-proof investment (or one of these recommendations by PCGuide if you’re looking for a cheaper alternative), game developers are now leaned towards making mobile versions as it’s more easily available to everyone.
We have pictures you can find below that talk about all these in detail so make sure you check these out to see the details of this year’s video gaming industry revenue and worth.
Market Share of Video Game Industry
Since the 1950s, you can see how the video game industry has grown exponentially. Now, let’s look at the most recent records so we can compare exactly how much is the video gaming industry’s worth in 2019 and how much will it be 3 years later.
2017 Video Gaming Worth
From $40 million U.S. dollars in 1970 and over $17 billion U.S. dollars in 1982, it was recorded that the 2017 market share of the worldwide generated a revenue of $108.9 billion.
Even though PC has gained popularity over the years, it still represented the least share among the three popular video gaming platforms in 2017, representing only 27% of the total shares. Console gaming platforms represented the second-largest share of the 2017 video gaming industry revenue, covering 31% of the total video gaming revenue while mobile gaming covered the most, with a total of 42% of the 2017 video game industry.
2019 Video Gaming Industry Worth
In just 2 years, the video gaming industry revenue increased from 108.9 billion U.S. dollars in 2017 to 152.1 billion U.S. dollars in 2019.
As expected, the mobile gaming platform represented most of the 2018 video gaming industry, totaling 45% of the share. This is followed by console platforms which covered 32% of the share, and then finally, PC, representing 23% of the share.
Forecasted Video Gaming Industry Worth
In 2022, the video gaming industry is forecasted to generate 196 billion U.S. dollars with a CAGR (compound annual growth rate) of 9.0%.
You can easily tell how the mobile industry has increased in revenue over the years while PC is constantly getting small. The console platform is somewhat the same throughout the years.
Summary
The video game industry’s worth in 2019 has hit over $150 billion U.S. dollars and is expected to increase rapidly in the next 5 years. With new technological gadgets that we can use like VR (Virtual Reality) and AR (Augmented Reality), it will likely generate even more in the next few years and even hit over $200 billion U.S. dollars by 2025.
Seeing how mobile gaming is taking the lead as the most popular gaming platform, the possibility of seeing digital and boxed copies of PC games decrease in sales is becoming more and more likely in the next 5 years.
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