What a year for video games! Like the now essential Spotify Wrapped, you know this annual summary which presents you with figures which look back on your musical year, I suggest you duplicate this format for video games! Let's start with the figures of the video game industry and their evolution.
$187.7 billion. This figure represents the amount of video game revenues worldwide in 2024, i.e. growth of 2.1% compared to 2023. PC and console game revenues represent 51% of the global market, according to a study by analysts. from the Newzoo firm which dates from July 2024. The remaining 49% comes from mobile games, which certainly take this proportion because they remain more accessible for the world population.
14,600 is the estimated number of people who will have been laid off in 2024 in the video game sector according to the Obsidian website. By 2023, just over 10,000 people had lost their jobs. All this is very paradoxical since we saw previously that the industry is doing well and continues to grow. These layoffs could be explained by the increasing costs of producing video games as well as the difficulty in attracting new players, according to Phil Spencer, president of Microsoft Gaming. Moreover, on the Microsoft Gaming side, 650 people lost their jobs. Yet even studios that make games that sell well are closing or laying off people, like the studio behind the game Hi-Fi Rush.
GTA and Minecraft among the most popular video games in the world
Difficult to find the exact figures for best-selling game of 2024but several candidates stand out from the crowd. With over 300 million cumulative sales since its release, GTA remains one of the most popular games in the world, alongside Pokémon, Tetris, Call of Duty and Minecraft.
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On the side games that attract active users this yearit is Minecraft that remains in the lead even though it dates from 2011. The game has 178 million monthly players, according to the site Active Playeras well as Fortnite which has more than 247 million players per month who spend up to 41 million euros per month.
Here are some figures that sum up the year for the video game industry in 2024. Besides, if you play, there is a good chance that publishers will offer you your own player summary, like Xbox or again PlayStation, but also the Twitch streaming platform! For my part, I'm impatiently waiting to see which game I spent the most time on this year. We're counting on you to share your figures for the year with us on RFI's social networks.
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