The video game industry is one of the fastest growing sectors in recent years, thanks to the media impact of electronic sports and live broadcasts. Although smartphones are the most relevant gaming platform in the global market, in markets such as Mexico, consoles continue to play an important role.
According to a throughout 2021, smartphones lead the preference of users in the world (85%), followed by PCs (66%), consoles (43%), tablets (30%) and video game streaming or cloud platforms (8%).
However, in specific cases, such as Mexico, consoles were the main device to experience this medium last year and the preferred brand of gamers was Microsoft, since the Xbox One captured 28.9% of the market share, followed by from PlayStation 4 , with 23.4%, and Nintendo Switch , with 18.9%.
It is worth mentioning that in the study they were not integrated into the new generation consoles from both Microsoft and Sony, since they had barely been on the market for a year, in addition to the fact that due to problems in the supply chain there was a shortage of these systems for a long time. part of the year.
The authors of the research also highlight that despite the fact that streaming and cloud gaming had few users in 2021, “the trend of these cloud services is upward and as expected, video games on demand or Gaming as a Service will grow within the industry in this decade.
According to another study carried out by , the adoption of the subscription model is growing. Between 2020 and 2021 there was a great adoption, derived from the pandemic, and it is expected that by 2024 it will generate revenues of more than 10,000 million dollars. “This model is going to be the future for game monetization,” said Denis Rodrigues, marketing manager at Google.
How much money did video games generate in Mexico?
In the country, video games have also become an important part of the leisure culture and proof of this is that in 2021 they generated 1,730 million dollars. The sale of accessories had an increase of 95.5%, caused in large part by the pandemic, while in consoles there was also an increase of 33.3%.
However, a sector where the national industry still needs to pay attention, the study points out, is the social potential, because although it is one of the main consumers of video games, it is not one of the most relevant generators of employment in the region. .
In this area, countries such as Brazil stand out, which is the nation that creates the most jobs in the sector, with a total of 4,000 jobs in 2019, followed by Argentina. with 2,000, and in third place Mexico, with 1,300 jobs.
Despite the fact that the independent video game industry can be a source of work, in Mexico and the panorama of gamer entrepreneurship has gradually improved, says Jorge Lizárraga, CEO of Gaming Partners, there is still fear among investors, which translates into lack funding for small studios.
It is worth mentioning that esports can also be a source of income in the digital economy. At the Latin American level, Mexico and Brazil are the benchmark markets. The former leads the region and is expected to generate 22 million dollars in this sector by 2023.
