WN Media Group CEO Pavel Räikkönen has posted an overview of the global gaming market trends. The report also attempts a number of predictions on where we will see the industry evolve in the coming years.
Pavel Räikkönen, WN Media Group CEO
The global video games market will, according to Räikkönen, continue on its path of consolidation. Big companies are expected to further strengthen their positions via M&A activities that will not slow down until at least 2023. And while it’s pretty clear that the likes of Tencent and Embracer will keep snapping up video games companies, another boost will come from investors who have traditionally been interested in other industries.
M&As in video games industry
The grow, though, comes at a price. The industry is inviting an increasing amount of regulatory intervention from the authorities, including censorship. Personal data safety, national security, racial agenda, the COVID-19 pandemic — video games have suddenly found themselves at the very forefront of the most dramatic developments of 2020.
As a result, we are probably looking at the market getting heavily regulated over the next couple of years, in ways not dissimilar to what the oil industry experienced in the early 20th century.
In the console department, the analyst sees no signs of the competition easing off between the platforms. Microsoft is gearing up to try and win the market back. Moreover, Nintendo will continue to challenge the bipartisan hegemony of PlayStation and Xbox.
Cloud gaming solutions will finally begin to account for an increasingly noticeable market share in 2021, additionally fuelled by the expanding deployment of 5G networks. Speaking of 5G cloud gaming, it will explode the market as the new generation of mid-end devices begin to support high-profile titles.
Cloud gaming revenue worldwide from 2018 to 2023
As for VR and AR, we will not see a lot of growth in the segment until more affordable and convenient headsets are made available. This, along with the rollout of more relevant content, is likely to happen within the next 3 to 5 years.
Virtual reality (VR) gaming revenue worldwide from 2017 to 2024
Zooming in on the regional economies, Räikkönen explains how China will be essentially forced to step up their game in expanding to the Western markets.
In conclusion, the report analyzes the tectonic shifts in workflows and processes triggered by the adoption of the WFH model. Overall, Räikkönen believes the WFH provisions do not necessarily translate into increased productivity. Instead, he predicts the rise of the hybrid model, which, however, will take time for the companies to adjust to. Studios will spend a lot of 2021 struggling to rebalance office spaces and remap the regions of presence. They will also have to review their wage policies now that the pay is no longer directly tied to where employees are based.
We are witnessing something truly unique. Borders are aggressively enforced, travel between countries is cut off, lockdowns and whatnot are imposed in the physical world. And then there is increasingly more freedom, more globalism in the virtual one. Two worlds coexist regulated by different rules but populated by the same people.
WN Media Group CEO
You can access the full report here.