Video Gaming & eSports

With the almost universal adoption of smartphones and mobile internet worldwide, it is hardly a surprise that this accessible technology has opened gaming for a wider range of audiences. Global mobile gaming revenues nearly reached 74 billion U.S. dollars in 2020, with the F2P (free-to-play) PC games coming in second with 22.7 billion U.S. dollars. One of the most popular mobile games of 2020 was PUBG Mobile, which grossed 2.6 billion U.S. dollars worldwide throughout the year.

The fast growth of mobile gaming led to producers and publishers in the mobile segment quickly gaining relevance and now rivaling companies that rose to prominence during the console and PC gaming era. The biggest publishers by market cap are Activision Blizzard, Nintendo, and Electronic Arts. Several major gaming companies are segments of larger, more diversified companies like Microsoft, Sony, or Tencent. Most of the biggest gaming publishers are headquartered either in North America or Asia.

eSports, organized multiplayer video game competitions between professional players either as individuals or teams, has become a central aspect of online gaming culture. The rise of professional gamers and live streaming of eSports events saw a large surge in popularity, resulting in the formation of tournaments and leagues. The highest earning eSports player worldwide is Johan Sundstein aka N0tail, with 7.18 million U.S. dollars in cumulative career earnings.

Video gaming audiences are highly engaged and are keen to connect with gaming content on various platforms. Gaming-related videos such as live streams, commentary or Let’s Play (playthrough videos) and walkthroughs are among the most popular types of video content online. On YouTube, gaming accounts for about a third of video content uploads and seven percent of video views. In the second half of 2020, live streaming platform Twitch had an average of over two million viewers at any given time.