Skip to main content

Digital Games will Become $100 Billion Industry in 2017

Digital entertainment will continue to evolve in 2017. In the mobile space, online video gaming has changed, with a move away from longer form Role Playing Games (RPG), to shorter games which allow greater interaction with other players.

That said, casual games maintain their dominance in this industry. However, there's a significant rise in popularity of titles such as 'Clash Royale' which are competitive, short-form games that also integrate the idea of clans or teams of players.

Aided by the adoption of popular franchises onto mobile devices, 2016 has seen strong growth in the number of games accessed on smartphones. Both new, optimized titles -- in terms of engagement and revenue generation -- and reworked classics have proved to be a hit with consumers.

Video Game Market Development

A new study from Juniper Research has found that revenues from the global digital games market are set to reach the $100 billion milestone by the end of this year. That's an amazing accomplishment.

According to the latest market study findings, contrary to previous concerns, the PC market has seen re-invigoration via Free to Play (F2P) games. Besides, coupled with the continued growth of mobile, the online video game industry will see total revenues reach $132 billion by 2021.


Juniper found Supercell to be the clear market leader, effectively monetizing consumers through engaging games, highly rated by consumers. The research advised that publishers such as Niantic must create longevity and engagement, so they don't see a drop-off in terms of active users.

Publishers are now seeking to integrate in-game advertising. The research found that this will be most effective when users opt-in -- watching a short video to provide players with additional in-game credits can be marketed alongside paid options for an ad-free experience.

Mobile and PC Gaming Growth Potential

The research noted rapid adoption of the F2P monetization strategy on PC devices, where consumers are enticed into accessing a game which is free, before developers harness the freemium model -- popularized by mobile games, in order to accelerate spend, with this accounting for almost 80 percent of the platform's revenues by 2021.

"Juniper analysts believe there is further opportunity for F2P on PC -- particularly in Western markets -- as well as console, with digital platforms such as Xbox Live playing host to F2P titles, which are then monetized via in-game purchases and add-ons," said Lauren Foye, analyst at Juniper Research.

Popular posts from this blog

The Billions Bet on Tentative AI Demand

Gartner's latest worldwide IT spending forecast exposes a trend every CIO has already felt in budget negotiations. Total spending will climb 14.2 percent in 2026, reaching $6.37 trillion. It seems that the IT infrastructure market is simply having a strong year. However, the more useful insight is how unevenly that growth is distributed. The Headline Number vs. The Real Story Data center systems and infrastructure as a service (IaaS) are absorbing capital at a pace several multiples faster than devices, communications services, and traditional IT services. This is not incremental growth spread across a healthy portfolio. It is a wholesale reallocation of enterprise technology budgets toward AI infrastructure, made on the expectation that demand for AI workloads will justify the outlay before that demand has been fully proven. Where the Money is Going Data center systems are forecast to grow 62.5 percent in 2026, that's up from 51.6 percent growth in 2025, reaching $822 billion....