The US will overtake China as world’s most lucrative games market this year

Revenue generated by the global games market will increase by 9.6 per cent to $152.1 billion in 2019, according to Newzoo.

According to the market intelligence firm, the US will become the world's number one games market in 2019, overtaking China by generating $36.9 billion. Over half of that will come from consoles, with the sector expected to grow 13.9 per cent to$18.5 billion.

Despite the freezing of licenses in China, Asia-Pacific remains the top region in the world for game revenue as it's expected to generate $72.2 billion, making up 47 per cent of the worldwide total.

North America is still the second-largest region by game revenue, with more than a quarter of the global games market at $39.6 billion, an increase of 11.7 per cent year-on-year.

Console surprise

The fastest-growing sector will be consoles, making it the second year in a row that consoles will outpace mobile growth. 2019 will see the platform grow 13.4 per cent year-on-year to $47.9 billion.

However, mobile remains the largest sector in 2019 with an expected year-on-year increase of 10.2 per cent, resulting in $68.5 billion in sales, making up 45 per cent of the global games market.

PC is both the slowest and smallest segment for 2019, with a four per cent year-on-year increase, generating $35.7 billion in revenue.