After years of impressive growth, the gaming industry lost 200 million users in 2022 due to various headwinds and challenges, including inflation, the end of Covid-19 lockdowns, and regulatory issues in China. Still, the negative trend is expected to stop this year, with the gaming sector recovering from last year`s drop and reaching a new benchmark in 2024.
According to data presented by CasinosEnLigne.com, around 3.8 million people are expected to play video games in 2023, 8% more than a year ago. This figure is set to continue growing in 2024, with the number of gamers rising to four billion.
More than Half a Billion New Gamers in Two Years
In the past years, the gaming industry showed impressive resilience to global economic shocks, with revenues and users surging while other sectors suffered significant hits. But that changed in 2022, which brought the smallest revenue growth in five years and a considerable user drop.
Statista Advertising and Media Insights data showed that around 3.5 billion people played video games via console, computer, or mobile device last year, down from 3.7 billion in 2021. In 2023, the number of gamers is forecast to grow by 300 million, with the total user count reaching 3.8 billion. The increasing trend will continue in 2024, with the number of gamers jumping to four billion, or 500 million more than in 2022.
Statista expects the number of gamers to grow by around 100 million per year, with the total user count rising to 4.3 billion in 2027.
One-Third of All Gamers come from China
The Statista data showed most of the user growth in the gaming market would come from China, the world`s gaming capital.
Last year, the country lost over 66 million gamers due to stricter government censorship of game content and tighter rules restricting playing times for minors. However, Statista expects the number of users in the Chinese gaming sector to jump by 10.2% to 1.29 billion in 2024, or double that of the United States and Europe combined. That means one-third of all gamers in 2024 will come from China.
As the second-largest globally, the European market will see a 4.8% year-over-year growth and around 430 million gamers next year, up from 410 million in 2023.
The United States follows with around 220 million gamers in 2024 and a modest 2.7% year-over-year growth.
