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PC games market will make $32.9bn in 2018, Newzoo reports

PC games market will make $32.9bn in 2018, Newzoo reports

Research firm Newzoo says that the global games market will make a huge $137.9bn in 2018, a rise of 13.3 per cent year-on-year.

PC is apparently behind $32.9bn of that figure, with revenue from both physical and digital rising 4.2 per cent in terms of compound annual growth rate to 2021. By that date, the market will be behind $32.3bn.

One interesting remark from Newzoo's reporting is that the firm believes that PC games are well monetised, coming close to "full monetisation potential".

However, the average price of PC games is apparently declining, which is bad news for the overall revenue generated by the market.

"While we expect engagement with PC games to continue to grow, driven by competitive play and esports, this will only partially translate to higher revenues for several reasons," Newzoo wrote.

"Most importantly, we believe that some of the most popular titles are already operating at close to their full monetisation potential and, at the same time, are unlikely to be displaced by new games soon. In addition, average prices for pay-to-play PC games have been declining in recent years, putting downward pressure on the segment’s overall revenue growth. The total PC gaming market will grow at a CAGR of +1.8% between 2017 and 2021 as the continued shift from browser PC to mobile games cuts revenues from the browser segment in half between 2017 and 2021."

Mobile games are the biggest segment, with Newzoo expecting to generate 51 per cent of total revenue this year. By 2021, the firm reckons it'll be a $100bn market.


PCGamesInsider Contributing Editor

Alex Calvin is a freelance journalist who writes about the business of games. He started out at UK trade paper MCV in 2013 and left as deputy editor over three years later. In June 2017, he joined Steel Media as the editor for new site PCGamesInsider.biz. In October 2019 he left this full-time position at the company but still contributes to the site on a daily basis. He has also written for GamesIndustry.biz, VGC, Games London, The Observer/Guardian and Esquire UK.