Global consumer spending on video games is expected to fall 4.3 per cent in 2022, as a dearth of big Christmas releases compounds weaker spending, inflationary concerns, and the threat of a recession.
This is according to estimates from Newzoo BV. This would mark the first year-on-year decline since the firm started tracking the gaming industry in 2012 – meaning this might actually mark the first annual sales downturn in decades.
Video game spending increased 7.6 per cent in 2021, and 25 per cent in 2020, as the pandemic first hit.
But a slew of lacklustre sales outlooks for the current holiday quarter by the major software companies doesn’t bode well for 2022’s overall sales. Ubisoft, Microsoft, and Take-Two are all without major releases this quarter.
Credit: Epic Games
“We recognise that the risk of the global economy slowing down is increasing further,” Sony’s finance chief, Hiroki Totoki told investors earlier this month as the company lowered the full fiscal-year revenue forecast for Sony’s videogames and network-services segment by about 12 per cent..
Chinese gaming giant Tencent reported its second straight sales decline – the first consecutive drop in the company’s history, while Electronic Arts and Take-Two both lowered their full fiscal-year forecasts earlier this month.
“We attribute it to macroeconomic conditions and we want to be realistic about it,” Take-Two CEO Strauss Zelnick said at the time.
Roblox Corp, said average bookings per daily user declined 11 per cent last quarter, while Activision Blizzard saw monthly active users fall 6 per cent, while Microsoft’s Xbox content and services revenue dropped 3 per cent in the September quarter.
