From any perspective, 2023 is undoubtedly a great year for gaming that will go down in history. At the "Game Awards" (TheGameAwards) awards ceremony in early December,Larian Studio invested by Tencent won many awards including Game of the Year for its role-playing game "Baldur's Gate 3", becoming this year's biggest winner.

Came to Los Angeles with two masterpieces: "The Legend of Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom" and "Super Mario Bros.: Surprise"Nintendo could only walk away with the awards for Best Action/Adventure Game and Best Family Game.Sony, CDProjekt, MiHoYo, JD.com and other well-known companies in the gaming and e-sports industries have also made gains.


(Larian CEO Sven Vink wore the iconic armor on stage to receive the award, source: TGA)

If I had to say which company is relatively lonely on the stage this year, it may only be Microsoft. The big "money power" player who was originally expected to become famous in 2023 ended up with only a series of jokes ridiculed by players.

Behind the numerous masterpieces,The year 2023 for the global game industry can still be described as difficult: dozens of well-known game companies announced layoffs during the year, and listed companies such as Microsoft, Epic Games, CDPR, Amazon, and Electronic Arts are all on the list. At the end of last month, gaming media Polygon even issued an article saying,The wave of layoffs in the gaming industry is creating an industry crisis.


Industrial growth is expected to remain low

In the latest industry report from Newzoo, a well-known game industry consulting company, it maintainedThe global game market revenue in 2023 is expected to rise only slightly to US$184 billion (+0.6% year-on-year). The main reasons include the slight softening of the mobile game market and the Asia-Pacific region. For reference, the game market in 2022 has just experienced the "burnout period" after the epidemic, and revenue fell by 4.3%.



Looking forward, Newzoo's current forecast for the global gaming industry in 2026 is US$205.7 billion, which corresponds to a compound annual growth rate of only approximately 4%. It should be emphasized that this expectation still has some vague elements. For example, Newzoo also includes the boost brought by "Nintendo's next-generation Switch".

As for the upcoming 2024, Drew E., a consumer retail industry analyst at the multinational investment bank Stifel. Crum emphasized that compared to the "extraordinary lineup" of new game releases in 2023, the lineup of upcoming games in 2024 looks weak, and there may be challenges in replicating or surpassing the previous year's performance.

Looking forward to 2024: Change and AI become high-frequency words

Regarding the upcoming 2024, although many game industry developers and investors still talk about difficulties, their words already show a sense of mission that industry change has arrived.

In an interview with the game industry media GamesIndustry this week, George Ng, co-founder and chief technology officer of the AI ​​solution platform GGWP, said,In 2024, the first generation of games that truly utilize AI will be launched. These games will feature dynamic partners, personalized stories and other functions. Ng is also optimistic that the social nature of games will continue to grow, and regulatory developments, including the EU Digital Services Act, will encourage developers to design and adopt more security measures to better protect players' safety in these social experiences.

Michał Nowakowski, chief commercial officer of Polish listed gaming company CD Projekt Red, also expressed his enthusiasm for AI. Michał said that smart use of AI will be important to enhance developers’ creativity and help everyone reach new heights. He also believes that there will be many interesting new works next year and reminds the industry that "There are also popular masterpieces in 2023 that were not favored before release."

Mike Rose, the founder of British game publisher NoMoreRobots, saw the opportunity of "everything rises when the whale falls". Mike predicts2024 will be more difficult, there will be more layoffs, and more developers and publishers will go out of business. On the optimistic side, there will definitely be news about a new Nintendo console next year, and there may also be more small studios emerging from the ashes of the collapse of large institutions.

Investors also see potential additional opportunities in 2024.

Shum Singh, founder of gaming industry investment bank Agnitio Capital, said that as 2023 comes to an end,There are several positive macroeconomic developments that will have a beneficial impact on the gaming industry in 2024. The Federal Reserve's recent policy shift, for example, has also contributed to a surge in gaming industry stock prices, which appears to be the first real indicator that market sentiment has shifted from bearish to more bullish.

Singh pointed out that as more funds flow into the stocks of listed game companies, they will initiate investment in new games, acquisitions of small studios, project financing for externally developed games, etc. It is expected that by the second half of 2024, M&A and investment activities in the game industry will increase.