Asia’s gamers will exceed a billion by 2026 | Niko Partners

By 2026, ten markets in Asia will have more than billion gamers, according to a new report by market researcher Niko Partners.

India’s video games market has the highest projected five-year growth rate at 21%, according to the 2022 Asia-10 Games Market report.

Niko forecasts that despite a challenging global economy, PC and mobile gaming will continue to have strong growth for the next five years in the markets that Niko Partners defines as Asia-10: Indonesia, Malaysia, Philippines, Singapore, Thailand, Vietnam, Chinese Taipei, Japan, Korea, and India.

Niko Partners projects the Asia-10 PC and mobile game market will generate $35.9 billion in 2022, reaching $41.4 billion in 2026.

Gamers are increasing at a much faster rate than revenue. Niko Partners projects the Asia-10 PC and mobile gamers will total 788.7 million in 2022, reaching 1.06 billion in 2026.

Niko Partners has slightly lowered the forecast for 2022 from what was projected for the year in 2021. This is due to the challenging global macroeconomic environment, regulatory impact, and underperformance in growth areas such as blockchain gaming, cloud gaming and metaverse. The lower forecast for 2022 will impact growth rates through 2026.

India, Thailand, and the Philippines are the fastest-growing markets for games revenue and a number of gamers· Japan and Korea are the most mature markets in the Asia-10 region, accounting for over 77%  of
revenue. For 2022, Japan’s games revenue is down 2.6% YoY and Korea’s is flat.

India is the second largest gamer base in the world, with 396.4 million gamers, making up 50.2% of all gamers in Asia-10.

Esports, which returned as a medal sport in 2022’s Southeast Asia Games, solidifying the inclusion of esports an official sport in the region. 5G, which saw impressive rollouts in many markets, with Singapore, Korea, Japan, and Chinese Taipei having far better 5G coverage compared to last year.

Lower GPU prices and greater console availability  

“In the face of a global macroeconomic environment that has led to slow economic growth, high inflation, lower consumer spending, and possible recession, we see gamers’ spending falling this year,” said Lisa Hanson, president of Niko Partners, in a statement. “That said, we are bullish on the games market in Asia, where gamers demand high-quality games, fair pricing, and are returning to in-person esports tournaments both as competitors and viewers.”

Cosmas Hanson is going to be a speaker at our upcoming GamesBeat Summit: Into the Metaverse 3 event on February 1 to February 2.

She added, “We see favorable conditions due to the 5G rollout and lower chip prices in the second half of 2022.​ We see promise in esports in Japan where it is just getting started, and strength in the future of the industry in Southeast Asia thanks in part to the broadening availability of gaming education programs at the university level. Where regulators have let the games industry develop and offered support, the markets have flourished.”

Each market report includes a comprehensive market model and five-year forecast through 2026 by games segment, key data on game publishers, games rankings, growth drivers, and trends. This includes details on esports, product distribution, payments, financial transaction events, regulations, and qualitative and quantitative analysis on gamer demand, spending, and behavior. The methodology includes a survey of more than 5,500 gamers.

Originally appeared on: TheSpuzz