Newzoo Predicts $200 Billion Gaming Market By 2023, 77% Of It From In-Game Purchases

Games industry analytics firm Newzoo has released its 2020 Global Games Market Report, which can be yours for a cool seven and a half G's, or $625 per month. If that's a bit out of your price range -- I've had apartments that didn't charge that much in rent -- then you can check out the synopsis posted on their site for the high-level details.

The headline predicts that 3.07 billion people will call themselves "gamers" by 2023, up from an estimated 2.69 billion in 2020. That will be fueled by higher growth in developing areas with greater access to the internet and wealth (and mobile devices). The key issue, the article points out, will be in converting "players" to "payers," made difficult by the low conversion rates often found in free-to-play games, especially mobile titles.

Newzoo estimates that 74% of the $159.3 billion in gaming revenue for 2020 will come from in-game purchases -- which are largely present in free-to-play games -- on all platforms. Those numbers are expected to grow to $200.8 billion and 77% by 2023. It's not all about mobile, though, as only 40% of gaming revenue in 2020 will come from mobile games. Consoles have the second-highest market share, at 28%, with PC gaming at 21%.