Video Game Industry Predicted To Be Worth $165 Billion In 2018 And $230 Billion By 2022

The video game industry is booming and according to a new report, 2018 could see the total revenue reach $165 billion or more. This is comprised of both software and hardware sales, with mobile gaming taking the lead, once again. Investment in video games has gone up as well, driving growth in the sector, which could boost the industry’s worth to $230 billion in five years’ time.

The report is from Digi-Capital, which compiled the numbers in the gaming industry for its Games Report Q1 2018. According to the firm, the mobile gaming software, PC gaming hardware, and PC gaming software sectors could pull in $55 billion, $30 billion, and $20 billion respectively in 2018. The report also made note of the console and VR markets, which are still seeing some growth despite hurdles.

Not surprisingly, a huge chunk of these revenue numbers come from Asia, which continues to dominate as the largest market for video games. In fact, the report notes that over the next five years, gamers in Asia will be responsible for providing the bigger slice of the pie than both North America and Western Europe combined.

As Gamasutra notes, this healthy trend of growth has convinced plenty of investors to throw money at publishers and developers to keep making more games, with investments in startups amounting to $2 billion in 2017. A lot of this money went to the development of the actual technology, which would be the backbone of the industry’s future. This includes both VR and AR, as well as eSports.

This report reveals that the gaming industry is in an excellent space right now, with plenty of room to grow. However, gamers might not be too pleased to know that Games as a Service (GaaS) and microtransactions are going to be a huge part of this growth.