Subscription-based Gaming Market Expected to Reach $55.94 Billion by 2031—Allied Market Research

According to a new report published by Allied Market Research, titled, “Subscription-based Gaming Market," The subscription-based gaming market was valued at $17.16 billion in 2021, and is estimated to reach $55.94 billion by 2031, growing at a CAGR of 12.9% from 2022 to 2031.

A subscription-based model is one of the revenue models that has become increasingly popular for monetizing games, which sees users subscribe to join the games and pay a regular monthly fee to access the games and additional benefits.  Subscription based gaming services provide a consistent source of revenue and an engaged audience that operator can monetize through microtransactions and paid downloads. This reduces risk associated with regular release of top-performing premium games.

Technological advancements in gaming sectors such as inclusion of artificial intelligence (AI), augmented reality (AR) and the release of 5G along with emergence of unlimited data plans are some factors driving the growth of subscription-based gaming market. In addition, increase in smartphones and internet penetration globally drive the drives the subscription-based gaming as per our subscription-based gaming market analysis. For instance, according to Ericsson, the number of 5G mobile subscriptions in the Asia-Pacific region is anticipated to reach around 1,545 million by 2025.

However, increase in prices of services offered by key vendors to gain more profit is expected to hamper the growth of the market. Furthermore, emergence of cloud gaming and increase in number of SMEs in gaming sector are expected to provide lucrative opportunities to the subscription-based gaming market.

On the basis of device type, the smartphone segment dominated the market in 2021, and is expected to maintain its dominance during the Subscription-based Gaming Market Forecast period. Mobile gaming has recently overtaken console and PC gaming as the most popular game format worldwide. One of the few factors for the growth of mobile games is their availability. Almost everyone has a smartphone loaded with games. Also, increase in demand for mobile games is driven by various technological advancements and improvements such as AR, VR, cloud gaming and 5G. In addition, large companies that develop games for console and PC also publish their games in the mobile version, due to the mobile game market.

By game type, the action segment dominated the subscription-based gaming market in 2021, and is expected to maintain its dominance during the forecast period. Action games improve the gamer’s perception, decision-making skills, and properly learn new tasks and information. Moreover, action games speed up the players’ processing skills or response to certain situations.  These benefits of action games are driving the growth of the subscription-based gaming market. Moreover, action games improve multi-tasking qualities, which is boosting the adoption of action games in the subscription-based gaming market.  

The current estimation of 2030 is projected to be higher than pre-COVID-19 estimates. The COVID-19 impact has prompted every company and business to shift their business operations toward a remote work environment. Moreover, due to strict guidelines issued by government authorities, people were forced to be in-house. This led to more leisure time available for each individual and gave rise to wide adoption of subscription games to spend quality time. The COVID-19 had a positive impact on the subscription-based gaming market.

Key Findings of the Study

• By device type, in 2021 the smartphone segment dominated the subscription-based gaming market size.
• Depending on game type, the action segment generated the highest revenue in 2021 of subscription-based gaming market share. However, adventure segment is expected to exhibit significant growth during the forecast period.
• Region wise, the subscription-based gaming industry was dominated by Asia-Pacific region in 2021.

Some of the key Subscription-based gaming industry players profiled in the report include Amazon Luna, Blacknut, Google LLC, Microsoft Corporation, NVIDIA Corporation, Shadow, Sony Group Corporation, Tencent, Ubitus K.K. and VORTEX (REMOTEMYAPP SP. Z O. O.).