Fortnite and mobile were strong leaders in last year’s gaming market.
Many people showed they really, really like video games in 2019, especially the free-to-play options—out of all games on the market, free-to-play titles took $4 out of every $5 generated.
A new report by SuperData, a market intelligence firm that specializes in the video game industry, reveals that a record $120.1 billion was spent on gaming content last year. As a result, the industry as a whole has seen a growth of 4 percent compared to 2018.
Out of all platforms, mobile continues to be a champion, making $64.4 billion overall. PC was close behind with $29.6 billion, while consoles came in at $15.4 billion.
In addition, gaming video content grew substantially, making a whopping $6.5 billion across the likes of Twitch, Mixer, Facebook, and YouTube. Augmented and virtual reality did great as well, making around $6.3 billion.
While this adds up to roughly $122.2 billion, SuperData did note that some games are counted under multiple categories, like Pokemon GO being considered as both mobile and augmented reality. Hence the adjustment down to $120.1 billion.
The mobile market holds a strong 74 percent of all free-to-play revenue overall, and the above-mentioned $4 out of every $5 spent. Tencent plays a big part in that, with games like Candy Crush Saga.
Not all numbers were on the rise, however. The premium games market saw a drop-off in revenue by 5 percent, down to around $18.9 billion, compared to 2018. There were notably fewer AAA titles launched last year, per SuperData’s information.
The biggest game that stood out profit wise was Epic Games’ unstoppable Fortnite, which hauled in $1.8 billion overall. EA’s FIFA 19 earned a second place spot, earning $786 million.
As for where the market will go this year, SuperData has high hopes. It expects revenue to rise even further, ending up around $124.8 billion. This is due to the continued growth of the mobile market, as well as the debut of long-awaited games like The Last of Us Part II and Cyberpunk 2077.
No word if it expects the Xbox Series X or PlayStation 5 to make an impact, since neither of those systems have a release date yet.
