Games are expected to grow from $137.9 billion in 2018 to $180.1 billion in 2021.
Games are expected to grow from $137.9 billion in 2018 to $180.1 billion in 2021.
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Newzoo: Games market expected to hit $180.1 billion in revenues in 2021

  • Posted byby Dean Takahashi
  • Updated
  • 4 min

The global games market is expected to grow from $137.9 billion in 2018 to more than $180.1 billion in 2021, according to market researcher Newzoo.

Those numbers are more optimistic than in the past, and they reflect the constant growth of platforms, such as smartphones. This year, mobile games are expected to hit $70.3 billion — or 51 percent of the total — and they will grow to $106.4 billion by 2021 — or about 59 percent of the total. Newzoo estimates there are about 2.3 billion gamers across the globe.

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Written by

Dean Takahashi

Dean Takahashi is editorial director for GamesBeat. He has been a tech journalist since 1988, and he has covered games as a beat since 1996. He was lead writer for GamesBeat at VentureBeat from 2008 to April 2025. Prior to that, he wrote for the San Jose Mercury News, the Red Herring, the Wall Street Journal, the Los Angeles Times, and the Dallas Times-Herald. He is the author of two books, "Opening the Xbox" and "The Xbox 360 Uncloaked." He organizes the annual GamesBeat Next, GamesBeat Summit and GamesBeat Insider Series: Hollywood and Games conferences and is a frequent speaker at gaming and tech events. He lives in the San Francisco Bay Area.