According to Nielsen’s annual U.S. Games 360 report, Americans are “spending more time gaming overall” despite overall figures of people who play games remaining constant. A 2015 demographic study from the Entertainment Software Association says 155 million Americans are gaming, out of an estimated 2 billion people worldwide. The Nielsen report points out that while mobile gaming time has plateaued, the proliferation of eighth generation consoles like PlayStation, Xbox One and Nintendo Wii U has driven player engagement upward. It also highlights the continued growth of eSports, which is backed up by data from community-based resource eSports Earnings. In total, the total amount of prize money earned by eSports players has surged from $110,900.00 in 1998 to $94,915,274.33 in 2016.
Despite levelling off, mobile gaming in 2016 actually occupied a larger share of the market compared to PC gaming, taking $36.9 billion in revenue and accounting for 37% of the global games market. In 2017, that figure has increased to 42%. Data from Statista corroborates the findings, showing that increased consumer spending on mobile games has resulted in average annual spending go up from 60 to 77 U.S. dollars per capita. Nielsen’s report concludes with a focus on virtual and augmented realities, whose influence is also expected to grow along with the solidifying presence of DLC, expansions and digitally released games.
Nielsen is a data tracking company that studies consumer behaviour and trends.
