Media analyst firm Ampere Analysis has forecast a decline in worldwide games content and services markets to $188 billion in 2022.
Representing a fall of 1.2 per cent, this would follow a very successful 2021 wherein the market was valued at $191 billion. Mobile gaming specifically is expected to see a marginally greater decline of 1.3 per cent.
IRL impacts
Ampere Analysis’ report suggests that games sales are not free from the economic unrest caused by current inflation rates. Furthermore, where Russia was among the 10 biggest gaming markets in 2021, Ampere expects the country to drop in the rankings this year due to its invasion of Ukraine, losing $1.2 billion in value compared to last year.
A fall in revenue for 2022 would continue the trend started in Q1, where Sensor Tower reported a decrease in mobile game revenue for the first time ever.
Presently, Ampere predicts that the market will bounce back in 2023.
“After two years of huge expansion, the games market is poised to hand back a bit of that growth in 2022 as multiple factors combine to undermine performance,” said Ampere Analysis research director Piers Harding-Rolls.
“Even so, the year will end well ahead of pre-pandemic performance, and the outlook for the sector as a whole remains positive, with growth forecast to return in 2023.”
Harding-Rolls will be providing more in-depth analysis and commentary on the expected decline very shortly in his monthly column, Insight.