Last year was typical from pretty much every point of view. Entire industries were swept to the brink of extinction by the repeated lockdowns that continue well into this year, while others were pushed into the spotlight by the changes in their customers’ habits and needs. Gaming was one of the industries that saw its numbers skyrocket, especially in the first few months of last year, across all its branches. If you wonder how much – well, the numbers are in.
iGaming boom
For iGaming, 2020 was one of the best years ever. Online gaming operators have seen their customer base constantly grow across the year, especially in areas where the thriving real-world gaming sector was effectively shut down by the measures imposed. With more customers discovering the accessibility and convenience, not to mention the game variety of Spin Casino India, many of them are unlikely to ever go back to their old habits of actually walking to a gaming house to play.
The growth of iGaming was especially prominent in North America, where the budding iGaming industry has seen its best year ever. But the taste for iGaming, especially on smartphones, has swept across all the jurisdictions where it is available.
Two-digit growth
When it comes to ‘traditional’ gaming, the repeated delays of various releases due to the unforeseen consequences of the pandemic have made their presence felt – the growth of the gaming industry across 2020 was just 9.3% year-on-year. Browser games have continued to decline – the only branch of the industry to shrink over the last year – while other segments, like downloaded / boxed games, console games, and tablet games only posting single-digit growth.
The smartphone games segment was, once again, one of the main drivers of growth for the gaming industry. Not only did it see its revenues grow by 15.8% over 2020 compared to 2019 – the only segment to post double-digit growth in 2020 – but it was responsible for 40% of all the revenue of the industry. Almost half, if we also count tablet games.
Mobile (smartphone + console) has been an ever-growing segment over the last few years, thanks to the constantly growing pool of smartphone users all over the world. Statistics show that the average smartphone owner will install a game on their phone within a week from buying it (in most cases, much sooner), and smartphone games have the potential to reach way more demographics – and with it, a much larger audience – than any other segment.
Smartphone sales decreased a bit, but that’s OK
Although smartphone sales have also felt the pressure of 2020, with sales declining by around 5% globally, there is no reason for worry. As vendors release more affordable, mid-range and low-end 5G-capable handsets (with ever-improving hardware), the decline will likely be short-lived, and things will return to the pre-pandemic normal pretty soon.
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