If you tire of all the end-of-the-year content and roundups on our site and many others, then you’re not going to like SuperData’s either, but we read the analytics firm’s whole 2019 Year In Review: Digital Games and Interactive Media report, and we’re gonna talk about it. In sum, the games industry grew by only 4% in 2019, with nothing quite as massive as Fortnite or Red Dead Redemption 2 as in years past, though Fortnite is still at the top of the charts with $1.8B in revenue last year alone. In fact, the firm says, “the premium games market dipped 5% in 2019 due to a gap year in AAA game launches.” A gap year.
“Total premium game revenue declined 5% year-over-year to $18.9B as 2019 saw fewer blockbuster titles than 2018. Aside from Grand Theft Auto V and Sims 4, the top 10 premium games were all sports games or shooters. Major new releases in 2019 did not earn as much as the biggest premium games of 2018 like Red Dead Redemption 2 and Monster Hunter: World.”
The good news there is that premium PC and console titles are indeed expected to resurge slightly in 2020. Free-to-play games pull in 80% of player spending as well, though the forecast for 2020 shows PC and console free-to-play titles continuing their slow decline in favor of mobile. All told, the gaming market pushed past $120B in overall revenue last year. There’s a bit more to the report, including video, esports, and VR; read it over at SuperData.
