2019 and 2020 Video Game Statistics

The Industry

• Gaming is the most lucrative entertainment industry by far, worth $145.7b in 2019, compared to $42.5b in Box Office earnings and $20.2b for Music
• In 2017, there were 2.21 billion gamers worldwide
• As at August 2020 there are an estimated 3.1 billion people consuming video games, representing around 40% of the population of the planet
• Mobile gaming now has the biggest share of the market with 48% of players engaging in mobile gaming
• Console gaming just outperforms PC gaming in the global games market with console taking 28% of market share and PC gaming taking 23%
• By 2022 the global game market will reach $196 billion, while the mobile gaming market will rise to $95.4 billion​
• 82% of global consumers played video games and watched video game content during the height of the COVID-19 pandemic lockdowns
• 73.55% of gamers prefer single player games, 3.63% prefer Multiplayer games, and 22.82% like both equally
• The PlayStation 2 is still the best-selling console of all time with 157.68 million units sold, and the best-selling console game is still Wii Sports with 82.65 million units
• The global console gaming market was estimated to be worth $45.2 billion in 2020, showing an impressive year-on-year growth of 6.8%
• Only 8 percent of gamers identify exclusively as console gamers, meaning most gamers play across multiple devices
• In Q1 2020 US citizens aged 18+ years spent on average 14 minutes playing games consoles per day​
• LGBTQ+ households are 25% more likely to own a game console than the general U.S. population and are 91% more likely to be planning to buy a new one in the next 12 months
• Nintendo have sold 60 million Switch consoles
• ​There have 210.13 million Nintendo Switch games sold to date

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The Players

United States, 2020 (Above)
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Hours children spent gaming weekly in the United Kingdom (UK) from 2013 to 2019, by age group.
​United Kingdom, 2013 - 2019 (released March 2020) (Above)

• Children in the United Kingdom are spending more and more time gaming, both on and offline. The number of hours that children aged between 12 and 15 spent playing games peaked in 2018, at nearly 14 hours. In 2019 however, this dropped to 11.6 hours per week. 2019 also saw an overall decline in gaming hours per week across the various age groups compared to previous years.
• ​With the rise of smartphone ownership among children in the UK, the opportunity for gaming on the go has also increased. However, the number of children who have access to games consoles at home has actually decreased over recent years. This would suggest that more gaming is being done on handheld devices like smartphones and tablets, both inside and outside the home.

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American Children and Video Games, 2019:

• 73 percent of Americans ages 2 and older play video games, an increase of 6 percentage points since June 2018
• In the U.S., playing video games accounts for 17 percent of consumers’ entertainment time and 11 percent of their total entertainment spend. However, while gaming engagement appears to be relatively stable overall, notable increases in both engagement and spending have been seen amongst kids ages 2 to 17
• Kids are becoming a more influential part of the gaming marketplace thanks to games such as Fortnite and Minecraft, assisted by the growing influence of YouTube and Twitch
• More than one-third of kids are spending more time playing video games than they were a year ago, while well over 20 percent are also spending more
• ​ Most mobile gaming consumers play on a daily, or near-daily basis, while gaming on PC’s and consoles is more variable, tending to occur less often for longer sessions as it necessitates settling in for more intensive experiences

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