Weekly Gaming Reports Recap: December 25 - December 29 (2023)
The last edition of the year - Omdia is pessimistic regarding the VR; PS5 surpassed 50M consoles; 19 mobile games in 2023 surpassed the $1B mark.
Reports of this week:
IGEA: Australian Gaming Industry in 2023
NZGDA: New Zealand Gaming Industry in 2023
StreamElements & Rainmaker.gg: State of the Streaming Market in November 2023 and year's results
The PlayStation 5 has surpassed the 50M sales mark
80LV: Culture, Mental Health, and HR Trends in the Gaming Industry in 2023
Ampere Analysis: PlayStation 5 in 2023 Outpaced Xbox Series S|X Sales by 3 times
data.ai: In 2023, 19 mobile games surpassed the $1 billion revenue mark
Omdia: Sales of VR devices will decline until 2026
Monster Hunter Now has surpassed the $100M revenue mark
Rush Royale has surpassed the $280M revenue mark
The total sales of Anthem seem to have exceeded 5M copies
The Pokemon GO Fest 2023 events brought $323 million to the economies of the countries where they were held
IGEA: Australian Gaming Industry in 2023
By the end of 2023, the gaming industry in Australia earned AU$345 million ($234.8 million US dollars). This is 21% more than the previous year.
Overall, Australian studios have positive expectations for the future. 68% predict an increase in profits in 2024; 21% expect stable profits at the current level.
At the end of the year, more than 2458 people work in Australian studios - 17% more than the previous year.
The Australian industry aims to expand. 63% of studios plan to hire new people in 2024 - expecting more than 200 new jobs.
69% of employees in Australia are male; 26% are female; 5% are transgender or non-binary individuals.
89% of Australian studios work on games based on their intellectual property (IP).
87% of studio revenue comes from countries outside of Australia.
NZGDA: New Zealand Gaming Industry in 2023
New Zealand studios earned NZ $434 million ($273.5 million US dollars) in 2023. 95% of the revenue comes from other countries.
In the New Zealand industry by the end of 2023, 1106 people were employed. 22% of them are women, and 10% identify as LGBTQIA+.
New Zealand studios complain that their Australian colleagues are poaching talents, limiting the industry's growth in the country.
43% of New Zealand studios were founded in the last 3 years.
Business sentiments are optimistic. 59% of studios expect revenue growth; 30% are confident they can maintain the current revenue level.
54% of studios work on PC projects; 31% are on mobile projects.
StreamElements & Rainmaker.gg: State of the Streaming Market in November 2023 and year's results
The total number of hours watched on Twitch in November declined compared to October (1.774 billion versus 1.727 billion), but this is due to one fewer day in November.
When comparing the daily number of hours watched, November, with a daily average of 57.5 million hours, is the best month since April 2023.
League of Legends (120 million hours), Fortnite (111 million hours), and Grand Theft Auto V (101 million hours) were the top games on Twitch in November in terms of views.
Looking at the year as a whole, the leaders are League of Legends (1.228 billion hours), Grand Theft Auto V (1.175 billion hours), and Valorant (916 million hours).
Diablo IV had the best start in 2023. In the first week, the game received 70 million hours of views. Following were Hogwarts Legacy (50 million hours) and Baldur’s Gate III (22 million hours). Notably, in 2023, only 9 new games entered the top 10 on Twitch.
KaiCenat is the most popular streamer on Twitch, with 109 million hours of views. His main content is entertainment, not game streaming. On the other hand, Gaules (106 million hours) specializes in Counter-Strike. The only woman in the top 100 is ironmouse (18 million hours).
The PlayStation 5 has surpassed the 50M sales mark
It took just over 3 years for the console to achieve this milestone. In terms of sales dynamics, it slightly lags behind the PS4 - Sony's previous console reached the same circulation a week earlier.
In the period from July to December 2023, Sony managed to sell 10 million consoles.
In July, when they announced 40 million sales for the PS5, it was trailing behind the PS4 by two months in terms of dynamics. The second half of 2023 turned out to be very successful.
80LV: Culture, Mental Health, and HR Trends in the Gaming Industry in 2023
80LV surveyed 503 gaming industry professionals from 56 countries.
Only 26% of employees are satisfied with their current workplace and the company's cultural code.
Surveys showed that the majority of employees do not feel loyalty to their studios. Most respondents would not recommend their companies as places to work (76.3%). The main areas for improvement include manager awareness, employee support, and remote work opportunities.
Only 13% of surveyed companies offer training and courses for managers.
For 40% of employees, company culture is very important.
19% of surveyed employees note that companies do nothing to support the mental health of their employees. 52% note that their companies take no action to support inclusivity and equality in the workplace.
The most popular support methods for employees in companies are flexible start times and the ability to work remotely (63%); promotion of an inclusive culture in the workplace (41%); breaks and the option to take time off to avoid burnout (36%); access to meditation and sports resources (34%); a 4-day workweek (7%).
28% of employees faced layoffs in their companies in the last year.
47% of respondents in 2023 were looking for a new job but couldn't find one. 34% did not look for a new job. 19% looked for and found one.
Despite discussions about AI risks, only 3% of respondents noted that layoffs occurred due to automation.
37% of employees noted that in 2023 they had more responsibilities, but their salary did not change. The same percentage noted that they were not paid for overtime. And 11% of respondents faced a salary reduction.
After the end of the pandemic, 47% of respondents continued to work remotely. 33% started working in a hybrid format, and 15% returned to offices. The rest 5% was missed somewhere.
Ampere Analysis: PlayStation 5 in 2023 Outpaced Xbox Series S|X Sales by 3 times
According to Ampere Analysis calculations, PS5 sales in 2023 increased by 65% and reached 22.5 million units.
Sales of Xbox Series S| X's sales decreased by 15% to 7.6 million units.
Nintendo Switch sales also fell by 18% to 16.5 million consoles.
Matt Piscatella, an analyst at Circana, notes that in the United States, the PS5 sells better than the PS4.
Sony had previously announced that it aims to sell 25 million PS5 units in the 2023 fiscal year, which will end on March 31, 2024.
data.ai: In 2023, 19 mobile games surpassed the $1 billion revenue mark
The number of games surpassing the $1 billion total revenue mark has been consistent over the last 4 years—19 games (18 in 2021) per year.
In 2023, the elite list includes Age of Origins; Arena of Valor; Arknights; Boom Beach; DoubleU Casino; EA Sports FC Mobile 24 Soccer; eFootball 2024; League of Legends: Wild Rift; Lightning Link Casino; Lineage W; Marvel Strike Force; Odin Valhalla Rising; One Piece Treasure Cruise; PokoPoko; Puzzles & Survival; Royal Match; Solitaire - Grand Harvest; War and Order; and World Series of Poker.
The list includes 3 4X strategies; 2 MMORPGs; 2 battlers; 2 Match-3 games; and 2 slots. 5 games are classified as RPGs by data.ai, but this category includes MOBA, MMORPG, and battlers.
Camel Games is the only studio (aside from Tencent) whose two games surpassed the $1 billion mark in 2023. We are talking about Age of Origins and War and Order—both are 4X strategies. The company is based in China.
Omdia: Sales of VR devices will decline until 2026
Sales of VR devices in 2023 decreased by 24%—from 10.1 million devices in 2022 to 7.7 million.
Omdia expects a further decline in 2024 by 13% and another equal percentage drop in 2025.
The market is projected to return to growth only in 2026 and approach 2022 levels by 2028.
Omdia estimates that the active user base of VR device owners at the end of 2023 is 23.6 million people.
Spending on VR content in 2023 declined from $934 million in 2022 to $844 million. It is expected that this market segment will return to growth in 2024, with content sales reaching $2.3 billion annually by 2028. The primary focus is on VR/AR devices from Apple.
Reasons for the decline include inflation, a reduction in the real income of the population, and subpar performance of three devices: Meta Quest 3 (high price), Sony PlayStation VR 2 (limited content), and Pico 4 (ByteDance is downsizing the VR division).
Additionally, Omdia analysts believe that portable systems are affecting VR device sales. Therefore, the release of Nintendo Switch 2 and Steam Deck OLED will negatively impact VR device sales.
Monster Hunter Now has surpassed the $100M revenue mark
From September 14 to December 14, the game earned $73.3 million, according to AppMagic data. This includes store commissions and taxes, so users in the game have already paid over $100 million.
The game's revenues in November-December stabilized at $3.5 million weekly.
70% of the game's revenue comes from Japan; 10% from Hong Kong; 7% from Taiwan, and 6% from the USA.
Since September 14, the game has been downloaded over 9.2 million times.
34% of downloads are from Japan; 14% from the USA; 12% from Taiwan.
The game's Revenue per Download (RpD) varies significantly in different regions. In leading Asian markets, each download brings developers $14.47. However, in leading Western markets, each download accounts for $3.28.
Monster Hunter Now has already become the second-highest-grossing game for Niantic after Pokemon GO.
Rush Royale has surpassed the $280M revenue mark
In the year 2023, the game earned $120 million, which is 30% more than the previous year. The project achieved daily revenue exceeding $1 million five times.
Since its launch in 2020, the game has been downloaded over 73 million times. According to data.ai, this makes it the largest Tower Defense game in the world.
In June 2023, MY.GAMES reported that Rush Royale's revenue exceeded $230 million, and the total downloads surpassed 63 million.
The total sales of Anthem seem to have exceeded 5M copies
The troubled looter-shooter from Bioware was released on January 25, 2019. The game was preceded by a massive marketing campaign, and the release trailer was directed by Neill Blomkamp (director of District 9, Elysium, and Chappie).
The game's release was overshadowed by poor reviews from both critics and players. The project received 59 points on Metacritic, but users rated it even lower. Despite this, Anthem sold over 2 million copies in the first week—a remarkable result for a new IP.
Despite Bioware completely discontinuing support for the project in 2021, Anthem continued to sell. According to a former company marketer on Linkedin, the total sales of the game exceeded 5 million copies.
In February 2019, SuperData reported that the game had earned over $100 million (with $3.5 million coming from in-game purchases).
EA itself claimed that its target for lifetime sales was 6 million copies.
Considering that the game was heavily discounted (currently being sold for $0.99), it can be assumed that the game earned just over $120 million over its entire lifetime. Considering the development budgets from 2015 to 2019, it is quite possible that the game, after many years, has almost reached the break-even point. However, for an outside observer, the game's history is an undeniable failure
The Pokemon GO Fest 2023 events brought $323 million to the economies of the countries where they were held
The study was conducted by Statista in collaboration with Niantic.
Over 194 thousand people attended events in New York, London, and Osaka. It is estimated that they spent $323 million during their trip to the event (including $73.8 million in tax payments).
For comparison, the Champions League final in Istanbul brought the city $80 million; Eurovision in Liverpool - $66.2 million; and Taylor Swift's performance in Kansas City - $48 million.
New York Event
74 thousand tickets were sold; 58% of participants were aged 27 to 44.
On average, each visitor spent $783 on the event.
The overall economic impact is estimated at $140.1 million (including $28.1 million in taxes).
London Event
62% of visitors came to London from other countries. 60% of visitors were aged 25 to 44.
Each visitor spent an average of $522 on the event.
49% of event attendees plan to revisit London within the next 12 months.
The overall economic impact is estimated at $58.75 million ($28.1 million in tax payments).
Osaka Event
78% of visitors came to Pokemon GO Fest 2023 from other cities. 2% came from other countries (mostly from the USA).
On average, each visitor spent $335 on the event.
Those who attended the event in Osaka spent $11.7 million on shopping.
The overall economic impact is estimated at $38 million ($11.6 million in taxes).