Games are enjoyable to play, but they also offer lucrative business opportunities. According to Newzoo, a renowned market intelligence firm, the global gaming industry will collect about $138 billion in revenues in 2018 from 2.3 billion gamers.

With the projected impressive growth of the industry, now is the best time to improve your skills in game development and build money-generating games.

For example, Shieldgenerator7, who is a long-term gaming enthusiast from the U.S., has been building exciting games and teaching people his amazing skills. You can learn from him so that you can also benefit from the projected growth in the industry.

Impressive growth

The $138 billion expected to be generated from the gaming industry in 2018 represents more than 13.3% increase from 2017, or $16.2 billion.

This wonderful growth is largely attributed to the increase in popularity of mobile games, which will rise by a whopping 25.5%. For the first time, 51% of the industry’s revenues, or $70.3 billion, is going to come from mobile platforms.

Breaking down the numbers further, smartphones will represent 80% of the revenues generated in the mobile segment, or $56.4 billion, while tablets will make up the remaining 20%.

The rest of the industry’s revenues is split almost equally between consoles and PCs. Newzoo projects that console games will be the second-biggest segment, contributing $34.6 billion or slightly more than 25% of the industry’s revenues, whereas PC games will generate $32.9 billion or almost 24% to the total revenues. Overall, 91% of all gaming revenues will come from digital platforms.

Regarding market segmentation into different regions, Newzoo forecasts that China will still be the leading gaming market by revenues as well as the number of players. China’s revenues will reach $37.9 billion or 28% of the entire industry’s revenues in 2018.

The second-largest market in the world, the U.S., will account for $30.4 billion, while Japan will account for $19.2 billion.

The future is bright

Looking ahead, the market intelligence firm forecasts that the industry will continue growing yearly at double-digit rates, recording a compound annual growth rate (CAGR) of more than 11.0% from 2012 to 2021. This impressive growth will make the industry to be worth $180.1 billion by 2021.

Expectedly, mobile gaming will still be responsible for the lion share of the revenues in the industry. By 2021, Newzoo projects that smartphones and tablet games will account for $106.4 billion or 59% of the industry’s revenues.

Concerning consoles and PCs games, the company expects them to continue growing—but at a lower rate than mobile games.

From 2017 to 2021, the PCs segment is forecasted to grow at a CAGR of more than 1.8%. Console games are expected to grow much faster, at a CAGR of more than 4.1% during the same period.

Wrapping it up

What do you think about the remarkable forecasted growth of the gaming industry? Are you taking this opportunity to learn game development and be part of the growth?

Please let me know in the comment section below.