SuperData Research, a Nielsen Company, published today its yearly free report on digital gaming, highlighting the significant growth experienced this year throughout the industry.
Compared to last year, digital gaming grew 12% to reach 126.6 billion dollars. The lion's share remains safely in the hands of the mobile market, whose yearly revenue got to $73.8 billion with a 10% year-over-year increase; one of the biggest mobile titles, Pokémon GO, saw its revenue rise 39% year-over-year despite COVID-19 travel restrictions as the developers at Niantic were quick to tweak the game so that its features would work while staying indoors, too. PC digital gaming revenue accounted for $33.1 billion in 2020, while console digital revenue accounted for $19.7 billion.
The SuperData Research report offers an in-depth look at all the various segments, though. For instance, while free to play games still dominated the scene with 78% of the digital gaming revenue (a nine percent increase over 2019), the premium segment grew far more (28%). That's because most of the lockdowns happened in North America and Europe, where the PC and console markets are stronger, accounting for 84% of all 'premium' digital gaming revenue. Total revenue for premium games was measured to be $24.5 billion ($17.8 on PC and $6.7 on consoles) this year, though next year SuperData Research is estimating it'll shrink down to $21.3 billion ($16.2 on PC, $5.1 on consoles). By contrast, free-to-play games should see another increase in 2021 across all major platforms (mobile, PC, and consoles).
This year in the premium segment, the Top 10 titles earned 34% of all revenue (whereas in the free-to-play segment the Top 10 titles only earned 19% of the total). The report puts Call of Duty: Modern Warfare, which includes Warzone revenue, at the top with almost $2 billion earned digitally in 2020.
| Title | Publisher | Genre | Revenue |
| Call of Duty: Modern Warfare | Activision Blizzard | Shooter | $1,913M |
| FIFA 20 | Electronic Arts, Inc. | Sports | $1,083M |
| Grand Theft Auto V | Take Two Interactive Software, Inc. | Action-adventure | $911M |
| NBA 2K21 | Take Two Interactive Software, Inc. | Sports | $889M |
| NBA 2K20 | Take Two Interactive Software, Inc. | Sports | $771M |
| Call of Duty: Black Ops Cold War | Activision Blizzard | Shooter | $678M |
| Animal Crossing: New Horizons | Nintendo | Simulation | $654M |
| Cyberpunk 2077 | CD Projekt | RPG | $609M |
| Sims 4 | Electronic Arts, Inc. | Simulation | $462M |
| DOOM Eternal | Bethesda Softworks | Shooter | $454M |
VR gaming revenue was up 25% in 2020, reaching $589 million, even though VR headset shipments fell 15% mostly due to supply issues. Half-Life: Alyx sold 1.9 million units in its first months, according to the report, and managed to earn more revenue than all PC VR games combined in 2019.
SuperData Research projects digital gaming revenue flat to stay 'flat' for 2021, though the overall interactive entertainment sector, which also includes gaming video content and XR, should still grow by 2%.
About the author: With over two decades of experience in gaming journalism, Alessio Palumbo has led the gaming vertical at Wccftech since August 2015. He started working at a young age for Italian websites like Everyeye.it, Gamestar.it, Nextgame.it, and Multiplayer.it before kickstarting the indie English-language publication Worlds Factory as its founder and Editor in Chief. In the last decade, he has coordinated the overall output of Wccftech's gaming section, managed PR relations, assigned reviews, produced daily news coverage, edited gaming content as needed, and delivered game reviews. Arguably, his trademark content is the long series of exclusive developer interviews that have been cited by Wikipedia and by the biggest news media and gaming publications. His passion for technology also makes him knowledgeable when it comes to gaming hardware and tech. His favorite genres include RPGs, MMORPGs, and action/adventure games.
Follow Wccftech on Google to get more of our news coverage in your feeds.
