Newzoo has finally released its highly anticipated 2023 Global Games Market Report, which predicts that the global games market will generate a total of $187.7 billion this year.

Should this projection come to be, it will represent a 2.6% year-on-year growth rate.

The worldwide playerbase of games, meanwhile, is predicted to rise by 6.3% year-on-year to 3.38 billion in 2023, thanks predominantly to mobile.

Mobile leads the charge…for now?

Mobile games are also responsible for the highest share of revenue, predicted to generate $92.6 billion this year. This would represent 49% of total revenues across the industry, followed by console games at only 30%.

In line with spending, mobile wins again in terms of player numbers. Newzoo’s estimations are that approximately 2.9 billion people will be playing mobile games by the end of this year, contributing the bulk of the total 3.38 billion across all platforms and supporting a 6.2% year-on-year growth rate.

However, it is noteworthy that Newzoo sees mobile’s growth in players being only 0.8% this year, with user acquisition and monetisation challenges attributed to Apple and Google policies. Meanwhile, consoles are expected to drive growth going forward, with Newzoo highlighting a potential Nintendo Switch successor as one key factor.

As of right now, Tencent, Sony, Apple, Microsoft and NetEase have generated the most revenue in 2023 among all gaming companies, showing that mobile is still coming out on top. This is also in line with Sensor Tower data from last month, showing that Tencent’s Honour of Kings was once again the biggest revenue generator in the whole of the mobile gaming landscape.

Comparing players with payers, Newzoo’s analysis concludes that a 7.3% increase will be observed in the number of people spending money on gaming, up to 1.47 billion this year. Looking ahead, this number is expected to rise to 1.66 billion by the end of 2026, by which time revenues could reach $212.4 billion.

The full report includes more predictions for the coming years, a longer list of the top gaming companies, and more.

Last month, Newzoo found that gaming revenue in Africa is more than 90% attributed to mobile.