Due to the rise of virtual reality headsets and the support that studios are giving them, market research firm SuperData started including sales of such games in its 2016 annual report. When it did this, the firm made a surprising discovery: revenue from mobile gaming (which now includes VR titles) make up fully half of the sales in the digital games industry.
“The mobile games market generated $40.6 billion in worldwide revenue in 2016Â — a sum equivalent to all global box office sales during the same time period — and grew 18% over the year before. Mobile games now account for half of the entire global digital games market,” SuperData relayed.
Samsung Gear sold the most VR units last year, moving 4.5 million headsets out of the 6.3 million total. The report said that Asia was by far the largest market for mobile gaming, generating $24.8 billion last year (in comparison, North American sales were only $6.9 billion). VR revenue only represents a fraction of the worldwide digital games market, clocking in at $1.8 billion in sales for 2016.
