It’s now a familiar story, but Superdata has put a figure on the boon the industry has seen over the last 12 months due to the pandemic. With the sector seeing a big 12 per cent uplift across the globe to a record total of $139.9bn.
The premium game market actually outperformed the total significantly, seeing a 28 per cent rise over the year. Superdata picks out DOOM Eternal, The Last of Us Part II and Cyberpunk 2077 as the standout earners, along with FIFA and NBA 2K.
Despite that, it’s worth noting that free-to-play games still dominate the market globally with Superdata calculating they make up 78 per cent of games revenue. Within that, 59 per cent of those free-to-play revenues came from asian markets, with both Honor of Kings and Peacekeeper Elite (Game for Peace), from Tencent earning over $2bn.
Other highlights in its Year in Review included a 25 per cent jump in VR game content earnings, as much down to the growing success of Oculus’ Quest line as to people’s desire to escape reality. And Gaming video content reached a huge 1.2bn people.
In the US, Superdata reports that 55 per cent of residents played video games as a result of COVID-19. With 43 per cent spending more time on mobile games, 28 per cent on console games and 18 per cent on PC games. 27 per cent spent more money on digital content, while 29 per cent spent less on physical games purchases, as the pandemic closed stores.
And 1 in 4 in the US specifically played games to stay in touch with friends and loved ones. With Call of Duty: Warzone and Animal Crossing: New Horizons both being cited as key elements of this drive.
Superdata also included its top 10 titles for both free-to-play and premium games. No huge surprises in either list, and you can download the report including those here.
