Anonymous Portugal

Following the massive pandemic-induced boom experienced in 2020 and 2021 (+26.3% and +9.8%, respectively), when consumers turned to gaming en masse while forced at home, the games industry inevitably declined by around 5% last year when everyone was once again free to pursue other hobbies. This year, global revenue numbers will return to growth, but developers and publishers should get used to a reduced annual growth rate.

That's the gist of the new MIDiA Research 2023-2030 global games industry report, aptly titled 'Life post-peak', which Wccftech got a peek of. The analyst firm estimates growth rates to remain below the current inflation rate, delivering modest single-digit growth for the remainder of the decade. Still, the number of gamers is expected to rise up to 3.8 billion by 2030.

The report also provides advice to small and mid-sized studios. With the rise of gaming subscription services, they should join sooner rather than later, according to MIDiA Research Lead Games Analyst Karol Severin, whose comments are often featured in Wccftech exclusives.

For developers, particularly the smaller and mid-sized ones who are on the fence about joining a subscription offering, the advice is to join now rather than later. Subscriptions will grow and the more titles (developers) are a part of them, the less negotiating power the future developers are likely to get. The one exception to this are perhaps strongly distinguished (and hard to replicate) niche premium games with loyal, resilient, and high-spending user bases. The best-in-class of those will likely be presented by attractive acquisition or investment offers in the years to come as subscription services and publishers look to optimise and distinguish their offerings.

That's not to say subscription services will completely oust regular purchases in the games industry. The latter will actually grow by 2030, albeit slightly, said MIDiA's forecasting analyst Perry Gresham.

While the rise of games access subscription services represents a headwind to full games purchases, we still expect individual games purchases to be a big part of the industry, growing slightly by 2030.