Gaming revenue worldwide 2021, by segment

In 2021, smartphone games are set to generate approximately 79 billion U.S. dollars in annual revenue, accounting for 52 percent of the global gaming market during the measured period. Console games were ranked second with 49.2 billion U.S. dollars in global revenue.

Game monetization strategies

The day were the actual purchase of a game was only money-related transaction in the process are long gone - today, digital gaming platforms are brimming with subscription services, downloadable content (DLC) and add-ons, as well as in-app or in-game purchase options for virtual items or game-enhancing experiences. A 2020 survey of game developers found that the most common gaming business models in the gaming industry were paid downloads, followed by free to download titles.

Premium titles

Paid gaming titles are usually refers to as premium titles, a further distinction from free-to-play (F2P) games. In 2020, the top-grossing premium gaming title on console and PC was Call of Duty: Modern Warfare. The sixteenth installment in the CoD series was released in 2019 and generated over 1.9 billion U.S. dollars in revenues in 2020. FIFA 20, published by Electronic Arts, was ranked second with just over 1.08 billion U.S. dollars in global revenues. Overall, premium console gaming revenues are projected to reach 16.2 billion U.S. dollars in 2021.