The gaming industry is one of the few that has thrived during 2020 and the coronavirus pandemic.

Being in lockdown and stuck inside has people off all ages turned to gaming to keep themselves entertained. And it’s no secret that the video game industry outperformed both movies and sports combined last year as the biggest moneymaker in entertainment.

While we all saw gaming succeed in 2020, these are the trends we see exploding within the gaming industry for 2021.

Revenue Streams

The gaming industry has seen exponentially high revenue growth over the past several months, which will likely continue even after the pandemic ends.

While the level of growth throughout 2020 will not be mirrored during 2021, revenue will still be coming in due to the release of the PlayStation 5 and Xbox Series X consoles—both of which became available in mid-November.

It’s been seven years since either PlayStation or Xbox have released any new consoles. Their latest next-generation gaming consoles sold out quickly due to high-demand based on their look and feel.

Cloud-based Games

Across the entire entertainment industry, we’ve seen the success of cloud-based entertainment, especially during the pandemic.

Netflix gained 25 million new subscribers at the beginning of 2020, which is almost as many as they gained the entire year of 2019.

Cloud-based gaming is seeing similar results. While the new Xbox and PlayStation consoles have been successful, game sales from online services such as Amazon and Google exceeded sales for physical games.

In 2020, players chose games that they could download directly or subscription services. This will only continue as lockdowns carry over into 2021, especially since gamers now have the ability to download directly at home instead of buying in store.

5G Internet

The expansion of the 5G network has had a huge impact on the gaming industry, and it’s only going to continue as 5G covers more ground.

People have always been unsatisfied with the length of time it takes to download a game. With 5G, games are now being downloaded 10 times faster than on a 4G network.

Mobile gaming in particular is going to grow even more as users gain the ability to download anytime and anywhere. 

Diversity

For the majority of gaming’s existence, it’s been a male-dominated field, from those who work in the industry to those who choose to take part and play.

However, over the past few years, there has been an increase in women getting involved in gaming as both developers and players. In fact, women now make up half of the gaming population.

Games now have female leads and players are saying they want more inclusive games with diverse casts.

This is just the beginning of the effects we’ll see from COVID-19.

As the year progresses, we anticipate the gaming industry continues to soar thanks to these trends.

If you’re interested in working with TransPerfect as you navigate the new year, email us at gaming@transperfect.com