Gaming

Ukrainians spend $160 million on video games


When people want some escapist entertainment nowadays, it’s more likely to be games they go to, not the movies.

And the games industry’s revenues prove it: the  industry raked in $43.4 billion in revenues in 2018, according to Entertainment Software Association. That’s nearly $2 billion more than the worldwide box office earned this year. Even streaming services like Netflix or HBO are estimated to take in much less — somewhere around $28.8 billion for the year.

And according to research firm Newzoo, 14 million Ukrainians helped game developers generate these massive revenues, with Ukrainians spending $160 million on games and gaming hardware in 2018.

And though $160 million doesn’t seem much compared to China or Japan, which spent $34 billion and $17 billion respectively, Ukraine is actually right in the middle of the global ranking of game spending by countries compiled by Newzoo, ranking 46th out of 100 states.

However, China, Japan, and the United States spend so much on games that even if all the countries of Eastern Europe combine their spending — and this is 147 million gamers — they still make up only 2.8 percent of the global gaming market.

Almost 50 percent of all game industry revenue — $66 billion — is generated in the Asia-Pacific region. The United States is close, making $34 billion a year, of a 25 percent share.

Globally, the largest share of games (37 percent) are played on phones, while 28 percent of people play via video game consoles, and 23 percent on computers.

The Kyiv Post’s technology coverage is sponsored by Ciklum and NIX Solutions. The content is independent of the donors.



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