By Akshita Toshniwal
(Reuters) - Global video-games market would return to growth in 2023 on the back of strong sales of consoles such as Sony's Playstation 5, according to gaming market research firm Newzoo.
Newzoo said it expects industry revenue to rise 2.6% to $187.7 billion in 2023, driven by a 7.4% rise in console sales in the year. Gaming revenue fell 5% in 2022, according to the research firm's data.
"Many highly anticipated delayed titles launched in 2023, with more scheduled for release in H2 (second half), and the supply of new consoles has finally caught up to demand," said Newzoo analyst Tom Wijman.
PlayStation maker Sony said in July it expects to sell 25 million units of PS5 consoles this year, a record for any PlayStation devices, as supply chain issues ease.
Market research firm Circana said U.S. consumer spending on video-game hardware was up by 23% in the first half of 2023. But spending on video game content was flat during the period, as gamers stuck with proven franchises such as Activision Blizzard (NASDAQ:ATVI)'s "Call of Duty".
Earlier this month, "Apex Legends" publisher Electronic Arts (NASDAQ:EA) forecast downbeat net bookings for the September quarter due to lower in-game spending on items such as character skins. However, the company maintained its 2024 bookings forecast as it expects to debut "EA Sports FC", its football franchise game, in September.
Newzoo expects mobile games to account for nearly 50% of global gaming revenues in 2023 even as privacy policies of Apple (NASDAQ:AAPL) and Google (NASDAQ:GOOGL) hamper their monetization.
Newzoo also said cloud gaming, which allows gamers to stream titles directly on devices irrespective of their technical specifications, has the potential to rack up 43.1 million paying users by the end of the year.