Video games
2024 was terrible for the physical format and the future looks bleak in the face of the unstoppable advance of the digital format
Summary of the global market volume of video games and the great contrast between the digital format and the physical format, which, although losing relevance every year, refuses to disappear.
If 2023 was a worrying year for the physical format, 2024 was even worse. GamesIndustry’s annual summary, which details the global market volume of the video game industry, shows once again that the digital format is unrivaled and is increasingly suffocating the physical format, which last year accounted for less than 5% of the industry’s revenues. Thus, in 2024, more than 95% of the profits generated by video games will come not only from the purchase of digital games, but also from related products and services such as DLCs, expansions, micropayments and subscriptions such as PlayStation Plus, Xbox Game Pass or Nintendo Switch Online.
Global video games market volume in physical format fell below 5% in 2024
As it does every year, GamesIndustry has produced a comprehensive report on the video games industry, detailing the market size and revenue generated on different platforms and in different formats, such as physical and digital. Below is an infographic showing key data for the year 2024:
This data, compiled as of December 20, 2024, clearly shows the current trend of video game consumption by users worldwide, with the digital format gaining ground over the physical format year after year. The global market volume of the video game industry is $184.3 billion, with an annual growth rate of 0.2%. In 2023, this figure will be $184 billion:
- Market volume of video games for consoles: $50.3 billion. This represents 27% of the total and is 4% less than the previous year.
- Mobile video game market volume: $92.5 billion. 50% of the total and 2.8% more than the previous year.
- PC video game market volume: $41.5 billion. 0.2% less than last year.
Although both positive and negative percentages are small, it can be seen from these figures that in 2024 there was a slight increase in user interest in mobile games, to the detriment of console and PC games. Pokémon TCG Pocket, launched last November, was one of the main spearheads in the field of games for Android and iOS devices.
Furthermore, of the $184.3 billion total market volume in 2024, $175.8 billion (95.39% of the total) represents the market volume of digital format video games and related products, services, subscriptions or payments across all platforms, compared to $8.5 billion (the remaining 4.61%) for physical format video games. The data is clear: while in 2023 physical video games will represent approximately 5% of the total market volume, in 2024 it will be even less than 5%. In other words, less than 5% of the money that will be spent on video games worldwide in 2024 will be spent on physical game purchases.
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