The online gaming industry has evolved a lot over the last few years. The number of online console gamers is expected to grow to over 57.4 million by 2024, and the entire online gaming industry value is projected to reach $2.2 trillion by 2024.
The accessibility of the internet is one of the primary reasons for the rise in the popularity of the online gaming industry.
Moreover, most online games can now be played anywhere, anytime on a smartphone.
Key Statistics
- Gamers spend more than seven hours each week playing.
- Gamers between the ages of 26 and 35 spend around 8.21 hours a week playing.
- There are more than 100,000 professional gamers (as of July 2019).
- Around 54% of gamers would stop playing online games on a website that has previously been hacked.
The Rise of Esports
Esports is playing a significant role in transforming the online gaming industry. The esports industry is expected to be valued at $1096 million by 2024. The global esports audience will grow to 645 million by 2024.
Esports is not only helping gaming companies, but it is also giving a platform to gamers to grow professionally. In fact, many people have made their careers around it.
How Gamers and Brands Are Benefiting From This?
The pathway for players who want to get into the esports and build a career in online gaming is clear – build a following on Twitch/YouTube and get noticed by teams/sponsors.
Twitch is the world’s leading live streaming platform for gamers. Twitch also live streams most of the biggest esports competition, thereby drawing huge audiences.
For gamers who want to make money via live streaming, Twitch offers an ad-revenue-sharing program. Unlike YouTube, in Twitch, gamers get to decide in real-time when they want their viewers to see the ads during their streaming sessions.
This is a win-win situation for everyone: gamers, Twitch, and advertisers. Streamers get to practice playing, draw thousands of viewers, and earn. Twitch gets a commission for every ad. Gaming companies get to target potential customers when they’re most likely to consume their message.
More and more companies have started bidding for esports streaming rights. Also, there is a massive surge in the sponsors for esports and the teams participating in it.
Constantly Growing Online Gambling Industry
Online gambling offers new opportunities to sell gambling to a whole new demographic of people. Though online gamblers don’t gamble as much money as land-based casino gamblers, they play more frequently.
With online casinos becoming more streamlined and secure, the gambling industry has become one of the biggest revenue creators in the last few years.
The online gambling industry is expected to reach $102.97 billion by 2025.
A few primary things contributing to the rapid growth of the online gambling industry, include:
- Higher bonuses: Most online casino websites offer a 100% bonus on the first deposit. Gamblers get a chance to sign up on various sites and get a 100% bonus every time.
- Better convenience: You don’t need to travel anywhere to play your favorite game. All you need to do is open a browser on your smartphone/desktop and start gambling.
- Huge jackpots: Some of the biggest prize ever won are online. This has increased the craze for online gambling among people.
- Various payment methods: Most online casinos now accept bitcoins, all types of credit and debit cards, amongst others. No matter which payment method you prefer, various sites cater to your needs.
- Better winning ratio: This is yet another reason for the rise in the popularity of online gambling. There are various sites with a 99% win ratio.
Online gambling sites such as King Billy Casino offer up 5 BTC in bonuses over the first four deposits. Besides, the win rate is 98.6%. You can read reviews about King Billy Casino on Clovr.
With the advancement in technology, online casino websites are integrating AI to offer live chat support to its customers and to personalize their gaming experience.
People Are Watching Other Gamers Play
It’s not only about playing games, but also about watching other gamers play online. On average, young gamers (ages 18-25) globally, spend an average of three and a half hours each week watching other people play video games online (as of 2018).
Also, more and more people are watching live gaming tournaments. By 2024, around 70 million people will watch a single esports final.
Moreover, many gamers have become multi-millionaires by live-streaming their games on YouTube. Some of the most popular gaming channels include VanossGaming (24.8 million subscribers), Markiplier (24.8 million subscribers), and The Game Theorists (12.3 million subscribers).
There are various reasons why people love watching other gamers play.
The first reason, most people are pretty average at the games they play. They enjoy watching professional gamers playing the very same match exceptionally well.
Another reason for watching other people play is to learn the tips and tricks to improve their gameplay. Apart from teaching tips and tricks, most streamers do live commentary to make the stream more interesting.
The last reason is, streamers bring gamers together and makes them feel that they are a part of a bigger community.
Mobile Gaming Has Become Mainstream
Mobile gaming has become an integral part of the online gaming industry. One of the most significant reasons for this is the availability of faster and cheaper smartphones.
Another reason why mobile gaming has become mainstream is that the developers have gotten very good at offering the right rewards at the right time. Be it virtual coins or a royal pass, these rewards keep gamers engaged and motivated.
Apart from gamers, mobile games are beneficial for developers (even when the game is offered for free) and marketers as well.
Advertisers get an additional platform to market their products or services while developers get an earning opportunity. Besides, mobile gamers are more likely to spend on in-app game purchases.
Most mobile games offer an in-game reward sponsored by an advertiser in exchange for watching a video. This ensures that gamers watch the full video and that the advertisers’ money isn’t wasted.
Mobile games account for 63% of revenue in respect to all mobile apps categories in 2024. Part of this category are hypercasual games, casual games, midcore games, hardcore and social casino games. Out of those, people spent the most time playing hardcore games, with an average time spent of 18.1 minutes daily. By 2025, mobile app spending is predicted to reach a total of 270 billion US dollars. Besides gaming, other popular app categories were those for business and educational purposes, utility apps and lifestyle apps.
Thanks to the global pandemic, the mobile game revenue showed an imposing increase of 57% from 2019 to 2024. The mobile games index published by Statista and adjoe shows that in 2024, 24% of the global population played mobile games. At the beginning of the pandemic, people used to stay at home rather than meeting up with friends or going to work. As a consequence of that, mobile games were the new and accessible tools to stop thinking about COVID-19 or even to socialize with others online. Just opening the smartphone or laptop is necessary, to find the right game to get entertained. An accessible way to connect with others online is for example the already mentioned streaming platform twitch.
Final Thoughts
The online gaming industry is growing at a very fast pace. The present scenario of the online gaming industry is undoubtedly excellent. The future of online gaming is also bright.
With the rise of esports and the growth of online casinos, gaming companies have an enormous opportunity to boost their revenue. Mobile gaming has already become mainstream and will soon surpass PC and console gaming.
