The video game industry grew to a global market valuation of almost $135bn in 2018, according to research from game analytics firm Newzoo and Gamesindustry.biz. This was a 10.9% increase on 2017's global market value.
Consoles saw the largest increase in market growth, bringing in $38.3bn in revenue this year, an increase of 15.2% from last year, with consoles such as the PS4 and Xbox One dominating boxed sales.
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However, the bulk of this year's revenue came from mobile accounts – accounts operated from smartphones and tablets – with these platforms making $63.2bn in sales and accounting for 47% of this year's revenue. Smartphone games brought in $50bn, marking an increase of 12.8%, and tablet-based games garnered $11.4bn, a 7.8% increase.
PC, the third major sector of the gaming market, accounted for 25% of the global market and brought in $33.4bn this year, a 3.2% increase on 2017.
Video game developers Epic Games were arguably the biggest winners of 2018 across all platforms, as the wildly popular Fortnite is on track to make $2bn in 2018, according to Bloomberg. Speaking to Bloomberg, Michael Pachter, an analyst at Wedbush Securities Inc., said: "On the revenue side, they've done something that's really unique, which is come up with a perception of exclusivity.
"If you see another player in a leopard skin and go to the store and see it's no longer available, you think, Shoot, I've got to move on it next time," he added.
