(Newswire.net — December 17, 2020) — It probably comes as little surprise that online gaming reported one of its best years ever and is still going strong. The more countries lockdown and the more people stay in due to the latest WHO proclaimed pandemic, the more people turn to online gaming to fill the void of not venturing outside.
According to a report by a research network, Statista covering online gaming worldwide revenue for the niche will hit $18,219 million in 2020 while the report was created at the beginning of 2020 and so that figure could be as high as $20,100 million by the end of the year.
Online gaming stats include mobile, online console, and desktop gaming. In the mobile arena there are both tablets and laptops to consider while there are other mobile console devices such as the very poplar Nintendo Switch that can connect to the internet. Overall, the online gaming market is not only rising because of new tech such as the Switch, but also because people are choosing to stay indoors and play games rather than venture out. However, all this could change in 2021!
Desktop & Mobile Gaming Experience Huge Rises
Although it is difficult to put exact figures on the rise of online desktop and console online gaming in 2020 until research figures filter through in 2021, these 2 markets saw an immense rise in players. If course this is because so many people were not at work giving them time and opportunity to play on their non-mobile gaming devices.
Rather than play mobile games on a smaller screen, most gamers would prefer to play on a device with a larger screen, and so non-mobile gaming closed the gap between it and mobile gaming. Although once things get back to normal in 2021, mobile gaming will likely continue its surge in popularity once again.
Online Casinos – Huge rise in players in 2020
The online casino or iGaming industry inevitably benefited from the lockdown periods across the globe and for 2 key reasons.
Firstly, those that play online casino games such as virtual blackjack live dealer games, and online slots had more time online. Naturally these players gravitated to their casino accounts.
There was also a flurry of new online slot game releases which is the most popular form of online casino game and makes up for around 70% of most casino revenue. On Just Slots website traffic increased with more players searching for reviews about online slots and where to pick up bonuses so they could spin the reels in search of the possibility of winning some free cash from their bonus money.
Progressive jackpot slots were also hugely popular with titles such as Divine Fortune and Microgaming’s Mega Moolah jackpot paying its largest ever win in Euros, which was a jaw dropping €14,239,532.84 jackpot win paid to 1 lucky winner.
The second reason, online casinos became the new fad over2020 is due to the closure of live sports. Many sports betting fans were left with very few options to gamble online. eSports was one option, while virtual horse racing and sports leagues were also an option. However, many of these websites also have online casinos added on as added form of entertainment. The allure of video slot titles and lottery games, live dealer tables, scratchcards, and bingo games brought them to the online casinos.
eSports Became More Popular Than Ever
One of the most popular online gaming environments is Mobile-Online-Battle-Arenas a.k.a. MOBA platforms. Almost all of them are free to sign up and play. With global lockdowns, the servers experienced huge overload on servers players connect to.
We also saw games such as Dota 2 hit its record prize pool for its main event, which named ‘The International’. Even though the event is still not underway, it has a prize pool of $34,351,362 at the time of this news report meaning the team that wins will net $15,629,870 as things currently stand.
Now to put things into perspective, the previous International took $25,532,177 so we are talking about a rise of $8,819,185 while usually each year improves by $1,000,000 on average. The Pandemic’s lockdowns certainly worked for Dota 2.