Newzoo has released its latest report which takes a look at consumer spending within the games industry for 2021.

Titled The Games Market and Beyond in 2021: The Year in Numbers, the report claims that the global games market will reach a total of $180.3 billion in 2021, with mobile games being the driving force behind this.

Overall, Newzoo projects that consumer spending on mobile games will reach $93.2 billion, a rise of 7.3 per cent year-over-year, and 52 per cent of the overall market.

The figure can be broken down between player spending between smartphones and tablets. Smartphone games contributed $81.5 billion, an increase of eight per cent year-over-year, whereas consumer spending on tablet games reached $11.7 billion, a rise of 2.6 per cent year-over-year.

Might mobile spending

"One of the most influential changes has been Apple's App Tracking Transparency," said Tianyi Gu, Newzoo market lead for telecom and mobile services Tianyi Gu.

"Key players in the mobile games ecosystem – including developers, publishers, ad tech firms, and app stores – all need to adapt to these new changes and the challenges they present.

"Yet the mobile market has led some of the biggest and brightest evolutions in gaming and we are confident that the mobile market will continue to thrive under the new privacy norm."

Looking forward, Newzoo predicts that by 2024 consumer spending on mobile games will reach approximately $116.4 billion.

The full report can be read here.

Last month, Newzoo reported that 95 per cent of gamers in Africa choose mobile as their preferred platform, with South Africa leading the way for consumer spending.