According to the gaming and player data analytics company Newzoo, which published information in August of last year, the global video game market is expected to reach $187.7 billion in 2024 — an increase of 2.1% compared to 2023, but still less than the record year of 2021. Analysts also predict growth to $213.3 billion by 2027, as reported by ranking.kz.
It is noted that the PC gaming market is growing faster than the mobile gaming market, which peaked during the pandemic. By the end of 2024, the global PC gaming market is projected to grow by 4%, while the mobile gaming market is expected to increase by 3%. Conversely, the console gaming market is anticipated to decline by 1%.
By the end of 2024, preliminary data suggests that PC games will account for $43.2 billion, console games for $51.9 billion, and mobile games for $92.6 billion. It's worth mentioning that the share of PC games increased from 21.9% to 23% over the year. Console games accounted for 27.7%, while mobile games made up 49.3%. Meanwhile, it is projected that the share of the mobile gaming market will continue to decrease from 2025 onwards, the PC gaming market will show steady growth, and console games will surpass PC games, capturing a 30% share by 2027.
The number of gamers worldwide has grown by 4.5% to 3.42 billion people. By 2027, it is expected to rise to 3.76 billion. The majority of gamers — 2.85 billion — play mobile games, which is not surprising given that almost every person on the planet owns a mobile phone. The number of PC gamers stands at 908 million, while console gamers number 630 million. It is important to note that all three segments of video games are utilized by 15% of all gamers. The share of those who play both PC and mobile games is 16%, while the share of console and mobile game enthusiasts is 13%. Only 4% of gamers play games on both PC and consoles.
Regionally, the vast majority of gamers reside in the Asia-Pacific region: 1.81 billion people. Following are the Middle East and Africa: 559 million people. The fewest gamers are found in North America: 244 million people.
In Kazakhstan, the PC gaming market has shown unprecedented growth over the past two years. The volume of services provided for the publishing of computer games from January to September 2024 amounted to 4.1 billion tenge — a 9.5% increase compared to the same period in 2023. For reference: from January to September 2022, this segment accounted for only 78.5 million tenge, and in the record-breaking year of 2021, it was just 90.4 million tenge, not to mention the January to September 2020 period, when the figure was merely 3.9 million tenge.
This rapid growth has primarily occurred due to the relocation of Russian companies to Kazakhstan in response to the sanctions imposed on Russia following its invasion of Ukraine.
