Data from research firm Video Game Insights shows that by 2022, the revenue size of the Steam game market is expected to decrease.
Game revenue on the Steam store (VG Insights only counts paid game revenue, excluding in-game purchases) has grown 74% over the past three years, reaching $6.6 billion last year.
VG Insight wrote in a report: From 2019 to 2021, the average compound annual growth rate of the Steam games market is around 20%. The report said that in 2020, the “home economy” in the midst of a pandemic drove the Steam game market to grow significantly, with revenue increasing 31% year-over-year. Revenue growth in the Steam games market slowed slightly last year, but is still up 11% from 2020.
According to VG Insights, in the first half of 2022, the revenue of the Steam game market reached $3.1 billion, still exceeding the figure of the same period last year (US$3 billion). However, sales momentum for games on Steam has slowed since April.
VG Insights believes that a series of factors have caused this phenomenon such as the delay in releasing many highly anticipated game titles. A large number of generations of consoles have entered the market to meet the needs of more players. Player purchasing power. dropped and the Steam store lost revenue from the Russian market, etc…
On the other hand, VG Insights mentioned some positive trends that could positively impact the Steam market. For example, the collapse of the cryptocurrency market caused the price of graphics cards to plummet. The average game price on Steam increased slightly, which also helped drive market revenue. VG Insights also notes that indie games are becoming more popular with gamers and major publishers are paying more attention to Steam.
According to VG Insights, by 2022, the revenue size of the entire gaming industry will decrease, and the Steam market will be less affected. In 2023, game sales on the Steam store are likely to set a new record.