- The global video game industry is worth nearly $347 billion in 2022, driven by major players such as Nintendo, Microsoft, and Sony.
- The “Big Three” of Nintendo, Microsoft, and Sony dominate the industry, with significant contributions from companies such as Tencent, Apple, Google, Activision Blizzard, EA, Take-Two Interactive, and others.
- Competitive advantages are created by platform exclusivity, strategic acquisitions, and emerging technologies, with PlayStation and Xbox aggressively competing for market share.
OUR TAKE
The robust growth of the global video game industry underscores its resilience and adaptability, driven by technological innovation and strategic market positioning by key players.
–Sissy Li, BTW reporter
The global video game industry is a multi-billion dollar industry and has been for many years. In 2022, the global gaming market is estimated to generate revenues of nearly $347 billion, with the mobile gaming market estimated to generate $248 billion. The gaming market is constantly evolving, and technological advances are opening up new possibilities for game developers, allowing them to create more immersive and engaging experiences through emerging technologies such as cloud and VR gaming.
Also read: Microsoft and Epic reduce investments in independent games
Major players in the video game industry
The Big 3
The three major companies in video game are Nintendo, Microsoft, and Sony. They are mainly video game hardware manufacturers and currently dominate the gaming market. These three companies can earn billions of dollars from the video game industry every year. According to statistics, these three game companies account for 29% of the total revenue of the gaming industry, with Sony holding the largest market share.
Other companies
China’s Internet giant Tencent has also made it to the list of companies with the highest gaming revenues due to its success in mobile and online gaming. Although mobile gaming revenue is not even limited to publishing mobile games, Apple and Google also make a lot of money from gaming apps because their unique app stores in their systems can get them a share of the revenue.
Video game developers and third-party publishers are also in the spotlight. At the beginning of 2023, Activision Blizzard had a market value of more than $67 billion. It is the largest pure-play gaming company and has launched the game “Call of Duty“.
Other leading companies in the industry include EA, Take-Two Interactive and Roblox Corporation from the United States, and Embracer Group from Europe. In addition, there are some relatively well-known companies in the Asia-Pacific region, such as Bandai Namco, NetEase, Capcom, etc.
Also read: Retro game emulators now allowed on the Apple App Store
The overall 4 links of video games
1. Game development: The game industry covers game developers, designers, artists and leaders who create games with the help of middleware and other development tools.
2. Game release: In terms of game release, funding, marketing and advertising play a key role
3. Game distribution: The distribution channels of games include retail and digital channels, including the manufacture, reproduction and retail packaging of game media.
4. Game sales: Retailers are the main channel for selling games, and consumers are the ultimate beneficiaries of games.
Hardware platform manufacturers also play an important role in the game industry. They can limit and collect licensing fees, and can also publish game content on their own platforms. But as video games transform into digitalisation, distributors may become redundant as publishers or retailers, and even in independent games, the functions of developers have become redundant.
Where does the value of video games come from?
For the industry, the biggest dominant factor in video games is the manufacturing of game hardware. Hardware manufacturers Nintendo, Microsoft, and Sony own and operate major game console platforms, so they have a greater competitive advantage than other companies.
Data shows that among the 200 most anticipated new video games to be released from the end of 2022 to 2024, 115 games are planned for PlayStation 5 and another 113 will be released for Xbox Series X/S. In terms of platform exclusivity, 22 games are expected to be released only on PlayStation, and 26 planned games will be released only on Xbox, not on PlayStation. Sony may be ahead of Microsoft in game content revenue share, but the Xbox maker is trying to deal with this situation by actively expanding its game portfolio through strategic acquisitions. Therefore, it can be seen that platform exclusivity has a great market advantage.
