Traditional Video Game Revenue Declines: 1 Gaming Growth Area Brings In $37.1B Annually

New data released by PricewaterhouseCoopers International Limited sheds light on the shifting landscape of the gaming industry, indicating that "traditional" games make up only 26.7% of the revenue earned by the United States games industry.

Breaking Down Gaming Revenue Trends: The majority of the industry's $54.1 billion revenue in 2022 came from social or casual games, accounting for a staggering 69% share, PwC's analysis, reported by Venture Beat, revealed. 

The study also showed that this genre brings in a remarkable $37.1 billion annually, and predicts the dominance of social and casual gaming will continue to increase, reaching 74% by the year 2027.

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The bulk of this revenue is generated through in-app games advertising, amounting to $19.3 billion in 2022. Free-to-play casual games are the major revenue driver in the industry.

Traditional gaming contributed just over a quarter of the industry's revenue last year, generating $15 billion. The report outlines that traditional gaming experienced a decline of 0.8% in 2022 as the market corrected after the COVID-19-induced spike.

PwC anticipates a slow recovery in growth for traditional gaming, projecting a growth rate of 1.9%, which would result in its representation dropping to 22.8% of the market by 2027.

Final Takeaways: Nevertheless, traditional gaming still surpasses U.S. movie box office revenue by nearly three times, per Kotaku.

With $5.99 billion in revenue, the gaming industry dwarfs the U.S. film industry, valued at $25.8 billion, making it worth less than half of the gaming industry.

Esports, on the other hand, contributes a mere 0.8%: despite garnering $500 million in revenue, this sector remains a minor player in the overall gaming industry

The overall growth rate of the industry saw an increase of 2.4% year-on-year, marking the slowest growth in five years.

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Image credits: Mediamodifier and NikolayFrolochkin on Pixabay.