Video Game Statistics

I don’t know about you but coming back from school and going over to my friend’s place to play video games in his basement is one of my fondest teenage memories. Time flies much faster when you have a game on screen and buttons under your fingers.

With the popularity of video games increasing exponentially over the past few years, the video game industry has become one of the biggest enterprises of recent times earning big bucks and employing millions. The video game statistics we have dug up for you will help you know this industry much better.

On this page, you’ll find:

• Video Game Industry Stats
• Video Game Distribution Stats
• Video Game Player Stats
• Video Games Stats
• Video Game Addiction Stats

Key Video Game Statistics

Here are the top stats for a quick look:

• The Video Gaming Industry was estimated to be worth $159.3 Billion in 2020. (WePC)

•  The USA has one of the biggest video game markets with a worth of $36.9 billion. (Statista)

• Mobile gaming now has the largest share of the market with 48% of players engaging in mobile gaming. (NewZoo)

• When US gamers were asked which platform they preferred for gaming, it was found that 61% used their Smartphone, 52% used a dedicated console, and 49% took part in PC gaming. (Statista)

• Among the adult U.S internet users, 18 % spend more than six hours per week playing video games. (Statista)

• More than 55% of game developers are developing games for PC. (Game Developers Conference)

• Sony Playstation has the highest percentage of the console gaming market with a share of 63.39%. (Statcounter)

• 75% of American households have at least one video gamer. (ESA)

• 26.9% of video games sold in the US in 2019 were Action games. (ESA)

• Of the total identified gaming addicts in the U.S 94% are males and 6% are women. (The Recovery Village)

Video Game Industry Stats

Steady development in technology and the inception of exciting concepts have improved the quality of available video games drastically over the years. Thus, the boom in the video gaming industry has never ceased and the profits have never saturated. This shows that there is a perfect balance of demand and supply in this industry. The video game industry stats we have for you below will show you the expanse of this sector and you’ll be able to appreciate its penetration in people’s day-to-day lives.

• The Video Gaming Industry was estimated to be worth $159.3 billion in 2020. (WePC)

• The net revenue generated increased by 9.3% from 2019. (WePC)

• Current forecasts estimate the video gaming industry to be worth $200 billion by 2023. (WePC)

• The biggest areas of growth are in Latin America and APAC which are expected to grow by 10.3% and 9.9% respectively when compared to 2019‘s revenue figures. (WePC)

• The USA has one of the biggest video game markets with a worth of $36.9 billion. (Statista)

• The United States covers 19% of the global gaming market share. (NewZoo)

• Gaming is the most lucrative entertainment industry by far, worth $145.7b in 2019, compared to $42.5b in Box Office earnings and $20.2b for Music. (Statista)

• In 2019, there were 2.21 billion gamers worldwide. (ResearchAndMarkets)

• As of August 2020, there are an estimated 3.1 billion people consuming video games, representing around 40% of the population of the planet. (DFC Intelligence)

• In the United States, spending on video games grew by 30 percent in the second quarter of 2020, to a record $11.6 billion. (NPA)

Video Game Distribution Stats

With the increase in demands for video games, various new environments were developed to play and enjoy their favorite games in the best possible way. From the era of Nintendo consoles, we have arrived in the age of PlayStation and Xbox. During this, we have seen immense diversification of video games as new forms of games emerged with developing technology. Today online multiplayer games rule the gaming industry where two people, sitting on their respective couches in two different corners of the world, battle it out in the game. Here are the stats that will enlighten you about the distribution of video games in the market.

• Mobile gaming now has the biggest share of the market with 48% of players engaging in mobile gaming. (NewZoo)

• Console gaming just outperforms PC gaming in the global games market with console taking 28% of the market share and PC gaming taking 23%. (NewZoo)

• Sony PlayStation has the highest percentage of the console gaming market with a share of 63.39%. (Statcounter)

• By 2022 the global game market will reach $196 billion, while the mobile gaming market will rise to $95.4 billion. (NewZoo)

• More than 55% of game developers are developing games for PC. (Game Developers Conference)

• More than 85% of total video game industry revenue comes from free-to-play games. (Fortunly)

• 80% of the total digital games revenue came from free-to-play games in 2018. (Superdata)

• When US gamers were asked which platform they preferred for gaming, it was found that 61% used their Smartphone, 52% used a dedicated console, and 49% took part in PC gaming(Statista)

• In 2020, the revenue from the worldwide PC gaming market was estimated at almost 37 billion U.S. dollars, while the mobile gaming market generated an estimated income of over 77 billion U.S. dollars. (Statista)

• It is predicted that players will spend $4.5 billion on VR games by the end of 2020. (ResearchAndMarkets.com)

Video Game Player Stats

As the popularity of video games increased over the years, they drew more and more people towards themselves and now video games are more than just a couple of hours of after-school entertainment for kids. People of almost all age groups are playing video games. Many take it up as their career choices by participating in local, national, or international competitions and streaming their gameplays on various online platforms like Twitch and YouTube. Here are some stats on the players who are, quite literally, the fuel of this industry:

• Among the adult U.S internet users, 18 % spend more than six hours per week playing video games. (Statista)

• Almost 50% of gamers have made at least one microtransaction in the past year. (ESA)

• During a January 2020 survey, it was found that 57 percent of parents in the United States who enjoyed video gaming were dads. (Statista)

• 64% of the U.S. population are gamers. (The Recovery Village)

• The average age of male gamers is 33 years old. (WePC)

• The average age of female gamers is 37 years old. (WePC)

• 59% of all Americans play video games. (Healthy Gamer)

• 97% of male US teenagers play video games on at least one device. (Pew Research)

• 75% of American households have at least one video gamer. (ESA)

• 63% of all gamers prefer to play with other people. (ESA)

Video Games Stats

There are hundreds of thousands of games available for gamers to try their hands on, but some of them just hit big, and everyone keeps talking about them for a long, long time. Popular games have a dedicated cult following, and their followers WILL NOT hear trash about their favorite games. This gives us an idea of how much craziness surrounds these games. We have for you some stats that’ll show you which games made it big:

• Fate/ Grand Order was the most talked about game on Twitter in 2019 with over 1.2 billion tweets mentioning the title. (VideoGamesChronicle)

• 26.9% of video games sold in the US in 2018 were Action games. (ESA)

• PUBG is the most played game on Steam with over 1 million players in 2019. (Statista)

• League of Legends is the most-watched game on Twitch. (Twitch Metrics)

• Fortnite is the most-streamed game on Twitch. (Twitch Metrics)

• Pokémon is the biggest selling video game franchise of all time with a sale of over $90 billion. (TitleMax)

• Sony Playstation has the highest percentage of the console gaming market with a share of 63.39%. (Statcounter)

• 68.8% of Fornite players have spent money on in-app-purchases which is quite big compared to the average 5% conversion rate. (LendEDU)

• In September 2020, Among Us had 60 million daily active players, the vast majority playing on iOS and Android. (Sportskeeda)

• The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time has the highest Metacritic rating ever of 99/100. (Metacritic)

Video Game Addiction Stats

Everything has its pros and cons. Excess of anything is harmful and the same is the case with gaming. Too much gaming has severe effects on one’s physical and mental health. Video Game addiction has been officially identified as a condition of mental unrest by medical organizations worldwide. Thus, it is essential to set limits on your gaming thirst as you can also fall prey to this obsession. Here are some stats that’ll tell you more about people who are suffering from this addiction: 

• A study published this month in the journal Addictive Behaviors found that among 3,000 students, 19 percent of males were classified as having gaming disorder vs. 7.8 percent of females. (PMC)

• Of the total identified gaming addicts in the U.S 94% are males and 6% are women. (The Recovery Village)

• Online video game addiction statistics show that anywhere from 1–10% of gamers have compulsive addiction issues (The Recovery Village)

• One study found that 9% of elementary and secondary school students were classified as pathological gamers and were using video games as a coping strategy when already depressed and anxious. (The Recovery Village)

• 0.3% to 1% of the general population fit the criteria for a video game addiction diagnosis in the US, UK, Canada, and Germany. (Healthy Gamer)

• 8.4% of children and teenagers are addicted to gaming, of which, 11–12% are boys, and 6–7% are girls. (Healthy Gamer)

• Young adult males between the ages of 18–24 are at high risk of video game addiction. (Healthy Gamer)

• The prevalence of internet gaming disorder ranges from 0.7% to 25.5% worldwide. (Wiley Online Library)

• One study found that the average time of male children ages 8 to 18 with an autism spectrum diagnosis was 2.4 hours per day. (Organisation for Autism Research)

• 57% of gamers claimed disturbance in their sleep cycles due to excessive gaming. (Healthy Gamer)

Conclusion

Video Games are one of the most desirable kinds of entertainment available now. They act as great stress busters and are vital in the hustle and bustle of 21st-century life. Video games give us a wholesome experience from the butterflies in the stomach before starting a new game to the sense of satisfaction on completing a game after weeks or months of struggle. It won’t be unjust to say that these games successfully fill the void in people’s lives and are great for having a great time, be it alone or with friends or with a stranger sitting in another basement in the opposite corner of the world (On your face social media!!).