Is The Video Games Industry Bigger Than Hollywood?
Image by Turnwrighthere
The Motion Picture Association has published its 2021 Movie Industry report. As usual, this is a very interesting read covering all key trends in the Movie & TV industry - including the expected recovery from a global pandemic and the growing shift into streaming (ending the year at 1.3B subscriptions worldwide and a 26% revenue increase to $17.9B, surpassing satellite TV).
But the other important number is the total size of the industry - particularly when compared with its Video Games sibling. I have been a gamer all my life and an avid fan of the industry. But, too often, we see articles and reports wrongly pointing out that video games have surpassed Hollywood in revenue. Just google it and you will see how "video games is now bigger than movies and music combined" or "bigger than movies and sports".
However, for a fair comparison, Hollywood and the whole movie industry needs to include all its revenue streams covering the entire distribution windows, from theatrical to free TV and streaming. Comparing all video games sales to just US (or global) box office revenues is wrong. Hollywood would not even exist today without what comes next, again, in the form of TV and streaming.
As the MPA report shows, the size of the global movie industry in 2021 including theatrical, digital and Pay TV, was $328B.
Global Theatrical, Home/Mobile Entertainment and Pay TV Market (US$ Billions).
This is a staggering number - which does not even include Free TV rights (linear media rights revenue post Pay TV) which globally is likely bigger than Pay TV but, for now, we can say that it generates approximately about the same as Pay TV. So, as a conservative estimate, we have an entire industry generating total revenue of more than $500B. For comparison, Newzoo placed the video games market in 2021 at $180B globally.
While I do believe that video games will continue its growth and will become the top entertainment segment in all types of key metrics, including revenue and engagement (time), there is still a long way to get there. Maybe a new way of engaging with and monetizing video games will help. Web3 and blockchain gaming, you have the mic.