PwC Sees Further Decline in Share of Traditional Gaming

By 2028, traditional gaming will only account for a good fifth of the global gaming market. Nevertheless, the segment is growing in absolute terms, says PricewaterhouseCoopers in its latest "Global Entertainment & Media Outlook".

The entertainment and media industry (E&M) is facing years of strong growth. This is the positive conclusion reached by PricewaterhouseCoopers (PwC) in their new "Global Entertainment & Media Outlook 2024-2028" report, which has now been presented. In 2023, the global revenue of the E&M industry will amount to USD 2.8 trillion. PwC expects average growth of 3.9 per cent to USD 3.4 trillion by 2028. Large new revenue pools are expected to form, particularly in the advertising and streaming segments and in the emerging markets.

As in the past, developments in the individual sub-markets are very varied. The gaming segment remains one of the strongest growth areas. PwC expects global revenues to increase from USD 228.14 billion in 2023 to USD 246.91 billion this year and USD 334.15 billion in 2028. PwC predicts comparatively low growth for the EMEA region. While Asia-Pacific is expected to grow by around USD 80 billion between 2023 and 2028, EMEA will grow by a mere USD 11 billion. For North America, PwC expects an increase of USD 20 billion over the same period.

It is also interesting to note that PwC expects the market to continue to shift towards social and casual gaming. Social/casual gaming's share of total revenues is expected to increase from 68.7 per cent to 76.4 per cent by 2028. At the same time, the share of traditional gaming is expected to fall from 28.6 per cent to 21.4 per cent. This means that by 2028, only one in five dollars of the market's revenue will come from traditional games. The good news is that if the share is set in relation to the market development of games, the revenues of the traditional gaming sector will also continue to grow, from USD 65.25 billion in 2023 to USD 71.51 billion in 2028.

However, the detailed analysis for the German entertainment and media market is not yet available. As in previous years, it is expected in the coming weeks. The only thing PwC has already revealed is that it expects revenue growth for all E&M industries in Germany to average 2.2 per cent until 2028. E&M revenues in Germany are expected to reach USD 100 billion in 2028.