The gaming industry is booming, according to estimates from research-firm Newzoo.
Newzoo has reported that the gaming industries top publicly traded companies have generated $54.1 billion in revenue in 2014, an increase of 10.4% from last year. What's more, the top 25 gaming companies take up the lion's share of the growth, nearly 65% of the entire market is theirs to claim, a market that is $83.6 billion strong.
The leading publisher is Tencent, the owner of Riot Games and League of Legends. Tencent tops the list at generating $7.2 billion in revenue in 2014, with a incredibly fast growth rate of 37% for the year. Only Google surpasses that rate, expanding nearly 89% in 2014 while generating $2.6 billion in revenue.
The top ten gaming companies in terms of revenue and growth include Sony, Microsoft, Nintendo, Electronic Arts, Activision Blizzard, and Ubisoft, along with an emerging mobile market with Apple, Google and King represented.
Current trends indicate that the industry is going to continue to grow at an accelerated rate, although there are some who may be left behind. Companies such as Zynga and Facebook, predominantly in the social game market, have had their market is shrinking over the past year. According to Newzoo, mobile gaming has begun to pick up the slack, with casual spending migrating to smart phones and other mobile devices.
In fact, mobile gaming, represented by Apple, Google and King, has skyrocketed in recent years, responsible for a combined $8.1 billion in revenue with high growth rates compared to large scale AAA publishers, which have grown but remain steady overall.
Sony is perhaps the exception to the rule, generating an estimated $6 billion in revenue in 2014 with a 27% growth rate. In fact, the Newzoo report notes that Sony is quite special in generating this report, as overall numbers for Japanese companies are trending downwards.
“Without Sony, the numbers would have looked much worse,” reads the Newzoo report. “Tellingly, nine out of the 16 publicly listed Japanese companies reported a year on year decline in revenues in 2014.”
Overall, the Newzoo report shows a solid year of growth for the gaming industry in 2014, and believes that the trend shall continue in 2015. With Nintendo entering the mobile market, and free to play titles and the use of DLC raking in high numbers, the gaming industry is in prime position to remain healthy for another year.
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