AS governments around the world impose lockdown or stay-at-home orders, many people switched on their games consoles. Gaming has been proven to be one of the ways of escaping the uncertainties of reality times of crisis and anxiety, as noted by World Health Organization (WHO).
In fact, digital games have already gained traction few years ago and it was one of the booming sectors. In 2017, YouTube gaming grew its streamer base by 343% while Facebook gaming grew 210% in 2019.
In Malaysia, gaming industry contributed US$100 mil in revenue to Malaysia in 2018. In addition, Malaysia is ranked 21 in the global games market in 2019 with a net total game revenue of US$633 mil with more than 90% revenues generated from mobile games.
For last year only, Malaysians spent approximately US$673 mil on video games.
According to the 2020 Global Games Market Report by Newzoo – a gaming and esports analytics and market research firm – 87% of the 20.1 million gamers in Malaysia spent at least some of their money on in-game virtual items in the past six months.
Thus, Malaysia is considered as one of the largest gaming markets in Southeast Asia.
In 2020, the global games market is expected to generate revenues of US$159.3 bil, recording a 9.3% year-on-year (yoy) increase. As for the Asia-Pacific region markets, it is expected to rake in revenues of US$78.4 bil in 2020, up +9.3% yoy, accounting for almost half of all global game revenues.
Meanwhile, there was unprecedented surge in number of downloads for mobile games from new users during the pandemic. This is as mobile gaming has the lowest barrier to entry with many mobile titles being free to play
Mobile games were becoming more of a mainstream pastime instead of just fringe entertainment. Moreover, the closure of PC cafes has led to the increase in number of mobile gaming.
Thus, mobile games revenue will increase 13.3% yoy to US$77.2 bil in 2020. Additionally, the number of gamers worldwide is still on the rise and is expected to exceed three billion by 2023 and surpassing US$200 bil in revenues. – Jan 1, 2021
