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Asia Pacific to generate 48 percent of 2022's global gaming revenue

49 percent of the year's games revenue will come from China and North America

Asia Pacific to generate 48 percent of 2022's global gaming revenue

Following its report earlier this month stating that the mobile gaming market will shrink 6.4 percent year-on-year in 2022, Newzoo has released another report with more in-depth statistics about the state of the global games market.

Whilst the mobile games market will see a notable contraction, it still remains the most profitable sector of the games industry at $92.2 billion, 50 percent of the total revenue generated by the entire industry. As previously noted, both the sector's profitability and decline are due to the low entry barrier, with the games being more accessiblle for new gamers than competitors, while those same players are more likely to abandon the hobby than those who've purchased consoles or PC games or related hardware.

Asia-Pacific is the largest sole market for games at $87.9 billion, a 5.6 percent year-on-year decrease. This was followed by North America in terms of market share (26 percent) revenue (48.8 billion) and decline (5.1 percent year-on-year.)

However, China and North America are identified as the two most profitable countries for the games Industry, with a combined 49 percent of the total.

Only two territories saw year-on-year increases in revenue - Latin America with a 3.4 percent year-on-year increase to $8.4 billion (a 5 percent market share) and the Middle East and Africa with a 6.6 percent increase to $6.8 billion (4 percent of the total)) Both regions have previously been identified as hotspots for the mobile gaming market.

Looking back and looking forward

In 2021, the global games market was worth $192.7 billion, compared to $179.1 billion in 2020. There are several notable factors for this increase. 

An important factor is the pandemic boom, which caused an unprecedented number of consumers to turn to gaming. Alongside several high-profile releases, 2020 also saw the release of both the Xbox Series X/S and the PlayStation 5, however Covid caused significant issues with manufacturing and distribution - issues which are still having an effect today. This accounts, in part for the further boom in 2021, as more and more consoles were shipped and sold.

Following the pandemic, people have less time to spend on gaming, and those that picked up the hobby during lockdown may have abandoned it entirely, accounting in part for the marked decrease. However, mobile still remains the most profitable arm of the entertainment industry, and is only projected to grow further. Newzoo forecasts that the industry will be worth $211.2 billion in 2025, and if mobile continues to generate 50 percent of the industry's revenue it could draw over $105 billion.


Staff Writer

Lewis Rees is a journalist, author, and escape room enthusiast based in South Wales. He got his degree in Film and Video from the University of Glamorgan. He's been a gamer all his life.