It looks like what we fear the most is coming true, mobile games are taking over the gaming industry and we have the cold hard statistics to prove it. For the first time ever in the history of video games, half of the revenue for the entire industry will be derived from games on mobile platforms. Comparatively, games on consoles and PC platforms only contribute 25 and 24 percent of revenue respectively.
As reported by GamesIndustry.biz via statistics from market intelligence firm Newzoo, it is projected that approximately 2.3 billion gamers from around the world will be spending a whopping $137.9 billion on games in 2018. According to Newzoo’s latest Global Games Market report, that’s actually a 13.3% percent increase from last year, as mobile games continue to grow in influence.
The company also states that this will be the first year that revenue from mobile games will become the biggest contributor to the games industry, thereby making up a vast majority of it. This is due to an incredible 25.5% increase from last year, allowing the revenue from mobiles games to reach $70.3 billion.
Those numbers are impressive but not entirely unexpected. Recent major releases like Fortnite Mobile and PUBG Mobile along with countless other minor hits have allowed mobile games to grow, as well as reach levels of popularity and mass acceptance never before witnessed in the games industry. More people are playing mobile games nowadays and they’re not limited to hardcore gamers either, as a majority of them are now casual gamers who only play on their mobile devices.
Recent news, like Fortnite Mobile reaching number one in almost 50 countries and making $15 million in only a month, can be considered as further proof that the games industry is being dominated by mobile games. At GDC 2018 last month, Fortnite CEO Tim Sweeney said that mobile games are moving away from “being primarily casual based, to being primarily real games for gamers.”
Newzoo had this to say about the future of mobile gaming: “In the span of a decade, mobile gaming will have grown from the smallest segment in 2012 to a 100-billion-dollar industry in 2021. Remarkably, the rise of mobile gaming has not significantly cannibalized revenues from PC or console gaming markets. In the coming years, mobile game revenue growth will continue to outpace the overall games market, growing to $106.4 billion in 2021. By then, smartphone and tablet games combined will generate 59% of revenues in the entire market.”
