Browser Games Market Definition
The browser games market consists of sales of browser games and related services by entities (organizations, sole traders and partnerships) that produce browser games that can be played on smartphones, tablets, PCs, and TVs. Online games or browser games refer to games, which are played over the internet. Browser games range from plain text games to games that combine complex graphics and virtual worlds populated simultaneously by several players. These games do not require any client-side software to be installed. They rely solely on the web browser and sometimes on a common plug-in such as Java or Flash.
Companies in this industry undertake operations such as the design, development, publication, distribution, and monetization of browser games on various platforms including PC, smart phone, and tablet. The market includes goods and services traded between entities or sold to end consumers.
Browser Games Market Size
The global browser games market reached a value of nearly $7,012.9 million in 2019, having increased at a compound annual growth rate (CAGR) of 10.3% since 2015. The market is expected to grow at a CAGR of 7.3% to nearly $9,285.0 million by 2023. The market is expected to reach $11,108.6 million in 2025, and $17,092.2 million in 2030. Growth in the historic period resulted from in-game purchases and freemiums, live streamers and gaming influencers, and rise in disposable income. Factors that negatively affected growth in the historic period were stringent regulations, and low internet speed. Going forward, increasing use of internet, cross-platform publishing and play, technological advances, rising penetration of 5G, and increasing gamers involvement due to COVID-19 will drive the growth. Factors that could hinder the growth of the browser games market in the future include growing privacy concerns, regulatory restrictions to curb games addiction, and economic implications of COVID-19.
Browser Games Market Drivers
The key drivers of the browser games market include:
Increasing Gamers Involvement Due To COVID-19
The rising involvement of gamers due to the COVID-19 pandemic is expected to positively impact the browser games market in the immediate future. In countries such as the UK and the USA where many employees have been furloughed off work, but still being paid and do not have anywhere else to spend the money are turning to online gaming, to get some form of escapism. According to Verizon, overall traffic related to internet gaming has increased 75% since lock down restrictions were imposed in America. Bungie, a video-game developer, said that average daily user engagement on their RPG game “Destiny 2” is up 10% worldwide and as much as 20% in the markets most affected by the coronavirus. This can be attributed to people being increasingly stuck at home and finding online gaming as an easy way to pass time. In February 2020, the games company Blizzard, the maker of World of Warcraft, issued an apology after the users had to wait for lengthy times in China due to a high influx of players from the country.
Browser Games Market Restraints
The key restraints on the browser games market include:
Growing Privacy Concerns
Rising privacy concerns are expected to limit the growth of the browser games market in the forecast period. The browser games market is facing increased privacy concerns due to the importance of the use of players’ locations in massively multiplayer online role-playing games?(MMORPGs) and the development of virtual and augmented reality-based games. In addition, the connectivity between video gaming platforms such as social networking platforms is increasing. Some games have been under great scrutiny about their access to users’ contacts, full access to players’ Gmail accounts when signing up on iPhones, and uncertainty about the extent to which the game’s publishers Niantic is collecting, using, and sharing players’ data. Similarly, in 2018, video games developed and published by Activision Blizzard such as World of Warcraft and Diablo III were diagnosed with a vulnerability to their Domain Name System (DNS) which allowed any website to run the arbitrary code and could potentially be used to hack into the PCs of the players. This unreliability in the data collection, transmission and security of video games players is expected to lead to formulating stringent regulations and standards pertaining to the collection of private date, a development which will hinder the growth of the browser games market.
Browser Games Market Trends
Major trends influencing the browser games market include:
Social Media Strategy
Gaming companies are increasingly promoting their games by making users share the content on social media. Several gaming companies provide bonuses, power ups, and other in-game rewards for gamers in exchange for inviting friends or sharing the game on their social media. This helps in increasing the brand exposure, and also helps in attracting new potential gamers. Besides, gaming companies, especially the ones in social media gaming are increasingly allowing their players to form communities, share tips and tutorials, and talk with their fellow community players. By creating a strong community, the players become loyal to the game. For instance, in Farmville, a game developed by Zynga, players can share the content and request their friends on social media to provide them with the required tools by clicking on the shared posts. The game also allows the players to share the points that they earn in the game with their friends. This helps in increasing the brand exposure and engagement.
In-Game Advertising
In-game advertising is gaining momentum in the browser games market due to high viewership. MMORPGs have high user engagement than other genres due to the presence of multiple players and continuous social interactions among the players. In addition, players from the major countries in the RPGs market such as China, Japan and Korea do not invest their disposable incomes on these games, and instead their time. Companies in the browser games market producing games are taking steps towards generating auxiliary revenues through dynamic and static advertising. In dynamic in-game advertising, companies purchase real-time locations to advertise within the games and the advertising appears on digital objects such as notes, labels, boards, hoardings, and posters. Static in-game advertising is programmed into the storyline of the game during its design and development. Examples of in-game advertising for MMORPGs include NCSoft’s board advertisement in City of Heroes and Toyota’s billboard advertisement in Anarchy Online.
Opportunities And Recommendations In The Browser Games Market
Opportunities - The top opportunities in the browser games market segmented by type will arise in the free-to-play games segment, which will gain $1,557.6 million of global annual sales by 2023. The browser games market size will gain the most in the USA at $257.6 million.
Recommendations- To take advantage of the opportunities, the business research company recommends the browser games companies to focus on independent development and publishing, focus on security, expand in emerging markets, provide competitively priced offerings in low-income countries to reach new users, offer in-game purchases, leverage social media, collaborate with live streamers and gaming influencers, focus on app store optimization, consider in-game advertising and participate in events to increase brand awareness.
Browser Games Market Segmentation
The browser games market is segmented by type.
By Type-
The browser games market can be segmented by type into
- a. Pay-to- Play
- b. Free-to-Play
- c. Pay-in-Play
The free-to-play games market was the largest segment of the browser games market segmented by type, accounting for 79.5% of the total in 2019. Going forward, the pay-in-play games segment is expected to be the fastest growing segment in the browser games market segmented by type, at a CAGR of 11.2% during 2019-2023.
By Geography-
The browser games market is segmented into
- o Asia Pacific
- Australia
- China
- India
- Indonesia
- Japan
- South Korea
- o Western Europe
- o North America
- o Eastern Europe
- o South America
- o Middle East
- o Africa
Asia Pacific was the largest region in the global browser games market, accounting for 51.0% of the total in 2019. It was followed by North America, Western Europe, and then the other regions. Going forward, the fastest-growing regions in the browser games market will be Eastern Europe, and Asia Pacific, where growth will be at CAGRs of 14.5% and 7.8% respectively. These will be followed by Africa, and North America, where the markets are expected to grow at CAGRs of 6.2% and 6.1% respectively.
Browser Games Competitive Landscape
Major Competitors are:
- • King Digital Entertainment
- • Gameforge
- • InnoGames GmbH
- • Zynga Inc.
- • Bigpoint GmbH
Other Competitors Include:
- • Kongregate (A MTG Company)
- • Atrix Entertainment
- • Goodgame Studios (Stillfront Group)
- • Travian Games GmbH
- • Arkadium, Inc.
- • Sony Corporation
- • Tencent Holdings Ltd
- • NetEase
- • 37 interactive
- • Perfect World
- • Elex IGG
- • Alpha Gproup
- • Elex Technology Co., Ltd
- • Happy Elements Technology (Beijing) Limited
- • YY
- • Shanghai Everstar Online Entertainment Co. Ltd.
- • 99Games
- • Griptonite Games India Private Limited
- • Apar Games
- • Game Freak Inc.
- • Creatures Inc.
- • Square Enix Holdings Co., Ltd.
- • KLab Co., Ltd.
- • Aiming Inc.
- • Supercell
- • Gameloft
- • Travian Game
- • Asobo Studio
- • Team17 Digital Limited
- • Engine Software
- • Sumo Digital
- • Codemasters
- • Ubisoft
- • XSEED Game
- • Capcom
- • Bandai Namco
- • Valve Corporation
- • Bethesda Softworks
- • Sega
- • Koei Tecmo Game
- • Daedalic Entertainment
- • Headup Game
- • CodemastersSoftware Company Limited
- • Rockstar North
- • 4J Studios
- • Rebellion
- • Bullfrog
- • Climax
- • Bizarre Creations
- • Playrix
- • Mail.Ru Group
- • Playkot
- • Pixonic
- • Electronic Arts
- • Activision Blizzard
- • Unity Technologis
- • JnJ Mobile
- • CasinoRPG
- • LevelUP
- • Arkadium
- • Playdom
- • OKAM Studio
- • Hoplon
- • Aquiris Game Studio
- • Behold Studios
- • Space Rhino Game
- • Bamtang Game
- • Squad
- • Wixel Studios
- • Nezal Entertainment
- • Tahadi Games
- • Game Power 7
- • Gameguise
- • Cloudgam.es
- • Quirkat
- • Tamatem
- • Babil Games
- • Celestial Games
- • Kuluya
- • Maliyo Games
- • Gamsole
- • RuneStorm