Analysts predict the fall of the console and PC games market

PwC analyst forecast

According to PricewaterhouseCoopers (PwC), an analytics company, in 2023, developers who bet on PC and consoles will earn only 15.514 billion in US dollars. While the figure may seem solid, it is only 27% of total US income.

To compare and understand the situation, it is worth bringing the expected sales of the digital sector. The specialists of the aforementioned company are sure that it is possible to earn more than 2 times over the same period – about $34.5 billion. Moreover, the share of income received through advertising is very significant in this volume: it will reach $20 billion.



PwC analysts expect that the social and casual segment (including mobile games) will continue to grow in sales in the future, more and more confidently bypassing physical games. Specialists tend to a similar position, relying in their forecasts on the Mobile Market Forecast report.

Details about the entertainment market situation

PwC assumes that 2023 will pass without much change in terms of actual sales. The so-called physical games will remain leaders, because for now they are bought in larger quantities when compared with digital counterparts and microtransactions. However, by 2027 the situation will change radically.

Namely, according to the assumption of PwC, the share of console and PC games in the US will decrease to 23% of the total entertainment industry market. At the same time, digital sales are actively growing, and nothing makes us expect this trend to change.

Forecast according to the report from Mobile Market Forecast

As for the mobile segment, it's worth talking about the future in more detail, as gaming and app revenue growth is expected to increase at a rapid pace. In just the next two years, App Store and Google Play will be able to increase their profits to $270 billion. Recall that in 2020 the figure was only $11 billion.

Analysts have calculated exactly how the revenues of the two largest app stores will change, which can be used to judge changing trends. If the average annual growth of 20.7% is predicted for App Store, then the Google Play indicator will be more modest – within 16.9%.