The top 25 public companies by game revenues generated a combined $94.1 billion in 2017, an increase of +29% compared to 2016. This showcases the ongoing consolidation of the industry, as growth for the top companies once again outpaced the total games market, which grew +14.3% year on year. Together, these top 25 companies captured 77% of the $121.7 billion global games market. Tencent earned $18.1 billion in revenues, or 15% of the total global market, and was the #1 gaming company in the world for the fifth year running. It is followed by Sony, Apple, Microsoft, and Activision Blizzard, respectively, meaning the top five gaming companies were unchanged from 2016. Contrary to last year, when most growth was consolidated in the top 10 companies, the top 11–25 companies in 2017 grew +24% year on year, keeping pace with the market leaders.
These company revenues are tracked as part of Newzoo’s Global Games Market Report.
Mobile showed strong growth in 2017, accounting for 46% of revenues earned by the top 25 companies, up from 41% in 2016. Notably, 13 out of the top 25 companies earned the majority of their revenues through mobile gaming.
Japanese mobile gamers spend the most per payer globally and this is not lost on Japanese companies. Traditional publishers such as Bandai Namco, Konami, Sega, and Square Enix now earn more through mobile games than console. Konami, well-known for its popular console franchises such as Metal Gear and Silent Hill, now earns more than four times as much on mobile than it does on console with titles such as Yu-Gi-Oh! Duel Links. NCSoft was the fastest riser of the top 25 companies with a year-on-year revenue jump of 104%. This increase can be largely attributed to the success of Lineage M, a mobile adaptation of the long-running PC MMO Lineage.
It is interesting to note that companies with a truly mixed portfolio, defined as companies that earn at least 15% of their revenues through each segment, showed less growth than companies focused on either one or two segments.
Platforms Show the Fastest Growth
In the past, we remarked that Western companies prefer to diversify their game offerings while Asian companies prefer to control more parts of the value chain. The latter proved to be a winning strategy in 2017; the fastest rising companies were those that controlled multiple parts of the value chain. Tencent dominated the Chinese market by its grip on both PC and mobile social platforms. This dominant position, combined with smart, diverse investments, has kept Tencent at the top of the gaming industry for the past five years.
The advantage of owning the distribution platform is abundantly clear in the mobile games space. Both Apple and Google had a record-breaking 2017 in terms of game revenues, earning $8.0 billion and $5.3 billion, respectively. Apple is now the third-largest gaming company in the world.
Sony, Microsoft, and Nintendo continued to outperform the global console market, earning an increasing share of revenues through third-party sales in their online stores. In fact, the three companies accounted for 57% of all console revenues in 2017. Switch sales, and the resulting revenues from its first-party titles, drove Nintendo’s revenues up by 98% year on year.
You can read more about Nintendo’s performance, and its digital opportunity, here.
Lineage IP Drives NCSoft and Netmarble Growth
Netmarble’s full-year revenues increased by 82% year on year to $2.3 billion, driven by the worldwide success of the mobile MMORPG Lineage 2: Revolution. The global success of the game has made Netmarble less dependent on its domestic market, as 54% of its revenues are now generated outside of Korea. NCSoft, which owns the Lineage IP, saw its revenues surge 104% to $1.5 billion, driven by the immensely popular mobile adaptation of Lineage M. Mobile accounted for 57% of its total revenues, compared to none in 2016.
Disney, whose revenues dropped 4% to $870 million, was the only company in the top 25 to record lower results than 2016. After discontinuing its last proprietary gaming IP in 2017, Infinity, its game revenues are now purely based on licensing.
Notable omissions from the top 25 compared to 2016 are GungHo Entertainment and Facebook. GungHo Entertainment’s revenues declined 15% as fewer gamers were playing its main title Puzzles & Dragons. Facebook’s gaming-related revenues declined 6% as gamers continued to move away from browser-based gaming. Facebook has shifted its efforts in the gaming industry to target hyper-casual gamers through its Instant Games platform.
New in the top 25 are Perfect World at #23 and 37 Interactive at #25. Both companies are mobile-first Chinese publishers that benefit from the massive size of the Chinese mobile gaming market.
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