Global Game Market Barely Avoids Contraction... 0.6% Growth Compared to Previous Year

Newzoo '2023 Global Game Market Report'
Market Size Reaches 239.8 Trillion Won This Year Driven by Console Game Growth

The global game market size this year is estimated to have grown by 0.6% to $184 billion (approximately 239.84 trillion KRW).

Although a recession and increased outdoor activities following the COVID-19 endemic had forecasted a decline, the market barely recorded positive growth. This projection is included in Newzoo’s “2023 Global Games Market Report,” a global game market research firm.

By platform, it was a year in which console and PC games made significant advances while the mobile game market slightly retreated. Mobile games recorded $90.4 billion (approximately 118 trillion KRW), about half of the total game market revenue. This is a 1.6% decrease compared to last year. On the other hand, console games grew by 1.9% year-on-year to $53.2 billion (approximately 69 trillion KRW), and PC games grew by 5.2% year-on-year to $38.4 billion (approximately 50 trillion KRW).

The decline in the mobile game market appears to be due to policy changes in the application markets of Google and Apple. Since last year, Google and Apple have been enforcing “in-app purchase mandates.” “In-app purchase” refers to a system where paid content such as game items or emoticons must be purchased only through the systems provided by Google Play or the App Store. When using in-app purchases, Google and Apple charge game companies a commission of up to 30%, which led game companies to uniformly raise the prices of in-game currencies.

The number of game users this year reached 3.38 billion, a 6.3% increase from last year. The number of users spending money on games also increased. This year, 1.47 billion people spent money on games, a 7.3% increase compared to the previous year. The report forecasts that by 2026, more than 1.6 billion people will be spending money on games.

By region, the Asia-Pacific region accounted for the largest share at 46% of the total game market. Next were North America at 27%, Europe at 18%, South America at 5%, and the Middle East & Africa at 4%. The Middle East & Africa, a region where the game market is relatively underdeveloped, showed rapid growth this year. This region grew by 4.7% compared to last year, and with the expansion of infrastructure such as internet facilities, it is expected to experience even steeper growth in the future.

The company that earned the most revenue worldwide this year was, as in the previous year, China’s IT company Tencent. Tencent earned $7.555 billion (approximately 9.9 trillion KRW) this year, nearly twice the revenue of Japan’s game company Sony, which ranked second with $4.38 billion (approximately 5.7 trillion KRW). Apple ranked third with $3.68 billion (approximately 4.8 trillion KRW), followed closely by Microsoft in fourth place with $3.15 billion (approximately 4.1 trillion KRW). Microsoft completed the merger process with game company Activision Blizzard this year and is expected to surpass Apple in the game market next year.