In the context of: The PC and console gaming market remains a lucrative market for developers and hardware vendors, although PC sales have declined in recent years. 2022 saw the release of several huge titles on PC, Xbox, PlayStation, and Switch, including Total War: Warhammer 3, Elden Ring, Hitman 3, Ghostwire: Tokyo, God of War, and Stray .
PC and Console Games 2023 Report by market intelligence firm Newzoo reveal Many interesting facts about the state of the global PC and console gaming industry. According to the report, total gaming revenue in 2022 amounted to $92.3 billion, down 2.2% from the previous year.
While console games captured 56.2% of the revenue, PC games, both boxed and loaded, captured 41.3% of the market share. The last 2.5% was spent on browser-based games on PC.
The United States was the world’s largest gaming market in 2022, with $31.2 billion in revenue and 34% of global sales. The Asia Pacific region came in second with spending of $30.2 billion, accounting for 33% of global revenue. Europe was the third largest market with $24.3 billion in gaming revenue, which was 26% of the global market.
Overall, the United States and China were the two largest gaming markets globally, accounting for nearly half (48%) of all global PC and console revenue.
One of the most notable pieces of information that came out of the report is that average playtime decreased by 23% between 2021 and 2022 across Steam, Xbox, and PlayStation. However, the report claims the decline is more of a “corrective step” as people begin to transition back to normal life after the pandemic.
One of the main reasons for lower revenues last year was the delay of several major releases due to barriers caused by the pandemic. However, the industry is expected to get a big boost this year with the release of several big-ticket games such as “The Legend of Zelda: Kingdom’s Tears“.
The report also noted that more AAA and AA publishers are moving to a subscription model where companies choose to release fewer titles, focusing instead on extending the life of existing franchises, such as Fortnite, Minecraft, and ROBLOX.
The final major point of the report is increasing gender equality in gaming. Although PC and console gaming has always been male-dominated, things are changing for the better, with more women taking gaming seriously. According to the report, 40% of all gamers last year were female, making the market fairer than ever.
