The graph shows game revenues of the leading public companies worldwide from 2014 to 2017. According to the source, Tencent, a Chinese entertainment company, generated 18.1 billion U.S. dollars in gaming revenues, which was the highest result in the 2017 ranking.
Gaming market – additional information
Notably, the owner of the Chinese QQ instant messenger and WeChat service, Tencent, was the year’s winner in the revenue race. All in all, the majority of companies experienced a growth in gaming revenues between 2014 and 2015, with the exception of King's 12-percent decrease and Electronic Arts' four percent drop. Globally, owing to the leading 25 public companies (based on game revenue) the industry gained 61.6 billion U.S. dollars that year.
The dollar results are a reflection of an evolving gaming market. According to PwC's forecasts, the total value of the video game market worldwide will have reached 89 billion U.S. dollars by the end of 2018. Studies show that gaming is a growing pastime, and other leisure activities lose in favor of gaming. It was found that more than 17 percent of gamers admitted they would reduce their internet surfing time and devote it to playing games instead. Not surprisingly, sleeping was not a priority either, with 12.5 percent of respondents saying they would sleep less in exchange for more gaming time. What is more, in a 2014 survey, 14 percent of devoted gamers admitted they played their favorite game five times or more within the previous 24 hours, and 21 percent did it twice in the same time.
Those who play, do so mostly on a gaming console – nearly a quarter of those surveyed. And the “next best thing” in terms of devices are smartphones, while tablets were chosen by 11 percent of gamers. In fact, heavy mobile gamers who spend 10 hours or more per week playing those games, dedicated a little over 15 U.S. dollars per month to purchasing mobile games in 2014. An average player spent approximately 5 dollars in the same measured period.
