Last year saw the release of some really big and highly-rated video games. However, new data shows that PC gaming was the biggest winner in 2023, while console revenue mostly flatlined and mobile game profits dropped. A recently released report from market researchers at Newzoo revealed that compared to 2022, 2023 was a “recovery year” for the game industry, with most profits across most platforms back up to normal after the pandemic-based rise and fall of a few years ago.
However, the platform that recovered the most and saw the biggest increase in revenue was traditional PC gaming. In Newzoo’s report, PC game sales, microtransactions, and other digital purchases grew 8.4 per cent in 2023 compared to 2022.
That’s pretty good alone, but compared to other platforms, it’s even more impressive. During that same time period, consoles only saw a 0.3 per cent increase, and mobile gaming shrank by about 2 per cent.
It should be noted that mobile and console gaming profits are still bigger overall than PC, with Newzoo estimating that 2023’s total mobile gaming revenue landed at around $US89.9 billion and consoles were at $US52.4 billion.
Meanwhile, in 2023, PC gaming was “only” hovering around $US39 billion. “PC revenues from publicly listed companies were up nearly 9% year over year,” reported Newzoo. The market research firm attributes PC gaming’s growth in 2023 to publishers embracing the platform.
“On the private company side, Valve, Epic Games, and miHoYo.
