Mobile will make up half of $470 billion gaming industry by 2030, says industry analyst

Industry analyst GlobalData has released a new Thematic Research report that shows the “continued dominance of mobile gaming”, and suggests that mobile gaming on smartphones and tablets will grow to “represent over 50% of revenues in what will be a $470 billion gaming industry by 2030”.

The report also highlights the staggering projected growth of the video games industry in general, which it expects to rise from $197 billion USD (£171 billion GBP) in 2021 to $470 billion USD (£406 billion GBP) by 2030.

“Mobile gaming is already bigger than the console and PC gaming markets combined, contributing nearly 57% of global video game revenue in 2021, and this dominance is only set to continue. Due to its popularity and lucrative revenue opportunities, traditional console and PC game publishers such as Activision Blizzard and Electronic Arts are increasingly focused on mobile gaming.” said Rupantar Guha, Principal Analyst in the Thematic Intelligence team at GlobalData. “Further, the increased availability of 5G networks in the coming years will drive more users towards mobile gaming, especially multiplayer titles, which, in turn, will boost the growth of mobile esports.”

The report also expects cloud gaming revenues to continue to rapidly expand, from roughly $2 billion USD in 2021 to more than $30 billion USD only eight years later in 2030. 

“Cloud gaming — which involves hosting games in the cloud and streaming them to connected devices — will fundamentally change the video games industry over the next 10 years. However, the market is at a very early stage.” said Guha. “Cloud gaming currently accounts for just 1% of global video games revenue, rising to 6% by 2030. Saying that, competition is intensifying, drawing in tech giants such as Sony, Google, Tencent, Microsoft, Nvidia, Meta, and Amazon, as well as telcos such as Deutsche Telekom, Sunrise, KT, and China Mobile to the space.”