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Global virtual reality video gaming revenue 2016, by region
VR gaming worldwide– additional information
The world’s two biggest markets for virtual reality video gaming, as of early 2016, are Europe and North America. The European market was estimated to be worth 1.9 billion U.S. dollars, while the North American market was valued at 1.5 billion U.S. dollars. In 2015, when the hype around virtual reality - fueled by announcements of new hardware releases - exploded, gaming was found to have been the second most popular theme among virtual reality content categories according to American consumers – about a third of those consumers showed interest in virtual reality gaming capabilities.
The entire global virtual reality software market, including all categories in addition to gaming, is expected to be worth 4.8 billion U.S. dollars in 2018, up from just 500 million in 2016. Further estimates suggest that gaming will hold a 50 percent share of worldwide VR software revenues that year. Together, the PC and mobile segments are expected to account for the majority of virtual reality gaming sales between 2016 and 2020. Nevertheless, console VR gaming revenues are projected to grow from 1.2 billion U.S. dollars to 6.1 billion in that same period. All in all, sources predict that there will be 16 million 'hardcore' gamers and 41 million 'light' gamers actively using virtual reality software and equipment by the end of 2018.