According to IDC, global video game revenues will grow 20% to $ 179.7 billion in 2020, making video game production more profitable than the global film industry and the entire North American sports industry combined. According to the Motion Picture Association, film industry revenues in 2019 reached $ 100 billion for the first time, and PwC estimates that North American sports will generate more than $ 75 billion in 2020.

However, both of these industries have been markedly hit by the impact of the 2020 COVID-19 pandemic, while the video game industry, by contrast, is showing double-digit percentage growth. Experts predict that explosive growth will continue in 2021 thanks to the recent launch of a new generation of Sony and Microsoft game consoles and new games – even when the quarantine measures are lifted.

“I think growth will slow as soon as effective, cheap, globally available vaccines become available, but I am very confident that by the end of 2021, billions of people will still need vaccines, ” IDC’s director of gaming told MarketWatch. research by Lewis Ward. – So, I think there will be a slowdown in 2022 “.

The video game industry has been booming in recent years due to the variety of platforms and game methods. Sales are growing in all sectors: digital sales of big titles, mobile games, shareware with micropayments, cross-platform games, streaming services like Google Stadia, subscriptions like Microsoft Game Pass, Steam analogue stores, VR and so on.

While console sales will grow with new systems, it is not the largest segment in the industry, nor is it the fastest-growing. According to Mr Ward, the largest increase is expected from mobile games – a huge share is made by China, where this sector is actively developing along with the proliferation of smartphones and tablets. Excluding in-game ad revenues, mobile game revenues worldwide are expected to grow 24% year-over-year to $ 87.7 billion.

Everyone has smartphones, they are sometimes very cheap, they are not specialized gaming equipment, and therefore mobile games are naturally in increasing demand. The ban on gaming consoles only recently lifted in China is also helping to dominate mobile gaming. Today, China accounts for only about 1% of the console market, while the country contributes the most to the growth in demand for mobile games in the Asia-Pacific region: today this market is valued at $ 56.6 billion, up 25% from last year. … Two companies, Tencent Holdings and NetEase account for over half the market share of the Chinese mobile games market. Outside of China, the mobile gaming market is dominated by companies such as Activision Blizzard, Zynga and Glu Mobile.

At the same time, the global revenue of the console market, including systems, games and services, will grow globally by 20% compared to 2019 to $ 52.5 billion, while the global PC gaming market will grow by 11% compared to last year. – up to $ 39.5 billion. Unlike the revenues of the game consoles market, IDC does not take into account the sales of equipment when assessing the market for mobile games and PCs. According to Mr Ward, revenue from computer games would have been greater if not for the widespread closure of the still very popular Internet cafes in China due to the COVID-19 pandemic.

Interestingly, the stocks of the three largest publicly traded American video game publishers outperformed the S&P 500 average (14%), with Activision Blizzard up 49%, Electronic Arts up 30%, and Take-Two Interactive up 64%. …

“After the end of the quarantine, publishers may face difficulties as consumers are likely to reallocate time and budget to areas that have been closed and are still partially inaccessible (for example, travel, restaurants, cinema, theme parks, concerts, casinos),” they said. JP Morgan analysts. “  Growth in 2021 will not be as strong, and stock price performance will depend on the performance of the main game series and investor enthusiasm for plans for new games – these factors, in our opinion, favour Activision and Zynga.”