Gaming Industry Sees Surge In Demand During 2020

| Tags: | Author
Gaming Industry Sees Surge In Demand During 2020

With a global pandemic locking people inside, the gaming industry has continued to flourish.


This comes from a report by the International Data Corporation, which revealed that global gaming revenue ending 2020 was at around 197.7 billion globally. This figure makes the gaming industry larger in terms of earnings than movies and the sporting industry combined.

The quoted figure would mean the industry is set to see another 20% growth in revenue this year, with the pandemic boosting the industry. The data also notes that the continued success of the Nintendo Switch has had a massive impact, alongside the newly released PlayStation 5 and Xbox Series S and X.

MarketWatch found in its research that the biggest boon to the industry was mobile. The sector already has a gap over PC and console, with analysts predicting that the gap will only widen as people continue to stay home. This is also in large part to do with China, which only makes up around 1% of the total console and PC market, with more consumers using mobile. The Asia/Pacific region is expected to see a 25% growth in this area alone.

A list of the top selling video games in the United States with a picture of Call of Duty Black Ops Cold War and an Animal Crossing New Horizons character to the side
Image – The NPD Group.

In the United States, the big winner in terms of sales was the Call of Duty franchise, with 2020’s Black Ops Cold War and 2019’s Modern Warfare taking the top two spots in 2020 (ended on November 28). This despite Call of Duty: Black Ops Cold War only launching earlier that same month. Third place went to Animal Crossing: New Horizons, which did so without digital sales data. NFL 21 and The Last of Us: Part 2 rounded out the top five.

And industry on the up

Even without a global pandemic forcing people inside and giving them more free time, the gaming industry has been on a rampage during the past few years and has shown no sign of slowing down. As an industry that employs, directly and indirectly, millions of people, it’s great to see some things not only surviving but thriving during a disaster of a year that was 2020.

Featured image via SCREEN POST on Unsplash.

Gaming Industry Sees Surge In Demand During 2020
David Hollingsworth
David has written for games media outlets for the last ten years. With his first major esports role being with Esports News UK covering mostly UK League of Legends. David is also a member of the British Esports Association and is an advisor to them on World of Warcraft Esports. More recently David has worked for Esports Insider and Red Bull as an esports journalist. David later became Editor at ESTNN and now leads the current team.