Asia and MENA to reach 2 billion gamers by 2028 as revenue soars past $85 billion in 2023

• Behind India are three MENA countries including the KSA, UAE and Egypt with Japan and Korea growing at a slower rate

Asia and MENA will grow from 1.6 billion gamers in 2023 to nearly 2 billion by 2028 acccording to a new report. The two regions also generated $85.5 billion in revenue last year which accounted for over half of global players and spending on mobile and PC games, with a 4.6% year-on-year increase.

These figures come from Niko Partner's 2023-2028e video game market models report which shows that in 2023, Asia and MENA accounted for 57.8% of global mobile game spending from a $100.5 billion market with 93.7% of gamers playing on mobile, 35.1% on PC, and 4.9% on console.

India is the fastest-growing market and is expected to add 277 million gamers by 2028 which accounts for 72% of the growth in gamers across Asia and MENA, surpassing China. Behind India are three MENA countries including the KSA, UAE and Egypt with Japan and Korea growing at a slower rate. 

Critical growth drivers in the global games market 

Last year, Asia and MENA accounted for 50.4% of global PC game spending, from a $39.2 billion market. In China, PC gaming makes up over 28% of total spending while the average weekly gaming hours in Asia rebounded by 36.2% year-on-year, following a 10% decline earlier in 2023.

Niko Partners CEO Lisa Hanson says, “Asia and MENA remain critical in the global games market, and drivers to the growth in these regions include localization, increase in participation by female gamers, government support for esports, growth of out-of-app monetization of mobile games, and rising spending power."

Hanson went on to add that “in order to gain meaningful access, companies must get to know the local market realities and clearly understand the context behind the data they use for their strategic planning.” 

You can read the full report here. 

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