New Report Reveals More Than 3 Billion People Play Video Games

In case you hadn’t heard, video games are a pretty big business nowadays.

Within the last few years, in fact, the industry has risen to become the most popular entertainment form on the planet, surpassing TV, film and music as the de facto type of consumer media. Perhaps even more impressive, however, is that, where others are suffering declines in market share, gaming-related sales continue to climb, especially in digital formats. Due, in part, to the COVID-19 pandemic, 2020 is looking to be an especially successful year for the medium thanks to millions around the world having to find a means of entertainment while stuck at home. Though who knows how long the streak of success will continue?

Thanks to a recent report, however, what we do know, is that the global population of gamers is in the realm of 3 billion, a remarkable achievement for an industry so young, relatively speaking. While the meat of DFC Intelligence’s in-depth report requires a substantial payment to view, the company does provide a graph showing the noticeable impact that mobile gaming has on the market, with Asia, in particular, accounting for a massive portion of mobile-only gamers.

See for yourself below:

Impressive figures, no doubt, though it’s worth noting that DFC only takes into account consumers that have or actively pay money for games on their chosen platforms, meaning those that strictly adhere to free games are not included in the study. This decision, it says, is to prevent double-counting, which means the quoted 3 billion estimate is likely to be even higher.

It’ll be interesting to see in the future if mobile gaming overtakes traditional platforms such as PC and consoles outside of Asia, though given how wildly different the target audiences for both are, it’s unlikely that any such monumental shift will occur.