How digital transformation affects iGaming today

August 15, 2022 World Emerging Markets

The online gaming market is more significant than the film and music industry combined, moving millions of dollars a year. According to the TechNET Immersive survey, this sector is valued at around 163.1 billion euros. According to the data, around 2.5 billion online gamers are spread around the world and most of them are located in China.

The gaming market experienced strong growth during the Covid-19 pandemic. According to the TechNET Immersive study, this sector was valued at around 152 billion euros in 2019, an estimate significantly lower than the current value.

The most significant acquisition in the technology field took place in the gaming area
In early 2022, Microsoft made headlines. The reason was the announcement of the purchase of Activision Blizzard, one of the largest gaming companies in the world, responsible for creating famous games such as Call of Duty, Diablo, Candy Crush and Guitar Hero, which will become the property of Microsoft.

The acquisition is in the final stage. According to the news, the traded value is around $ 70 billion, which represents the largest acquisition in the tech market. However, the big surprise of this negotiation is not about the gaming issues, but the controversies involving Blizzard.

Amidst all the excitement, the announcement of the purchase by one of the tech giants was surprising. During the controversy involving Blizzard, the company’s shares fell by about 30%. However, after Microsoft’s announcement, they went up 40%. This transaction places the conglomerate third in the video game market, behind only China’s Tencent and Japan’s Sony.

Furniture holds great promise for the future
The outlook for the gaming market is quite positive and the sector with the most significant growth potential is mobile. According to research by gaming and esports analytics firm Newzoo, mobile games generated around € 90.7 billion in 2021, up 4.4% year-on-year. This number represents more than half of the global gaming market. Furthermore, mobile is the segment that has been least affected by the pandemic, unlike the PC and console gaming sectors.

As The Verge explains, the biggest video games in the world are currently on smartphones and, in recent years, major video game companies have invested a lot of money to conquer the mobile sector.

To give an idea of the impact, just this month the company Take-Two invested about 13 billion euros to acquire Zynga, developer of the FarmVille mobile game. Microsoft’s acquisition of Blizzard also marks a critical time for the company and for the future of mobile gaming. Microsoft is already known in the gaming world thanks to its Xbox consoles. However, the purchase of one of the largest gaming companies globally is essential for the consolidation of Microsoft-owned mobile games.