AR GAMING
OUTLOOK
Gaming community grows significantly – and swiftly
BY EMILY BENCIC
36
Four in five (81%) Australians now identify as ‘gamers’, up from 67% in 2022, according to the Australia Plays Report by the Interactive Games and Entertainment Association (IGEA), with three-quarters (75%) of gamers playing co-op. In addition, 94% of households have a device for video games. Statista data shows that the gaming market in Australia is expected to reach $187 million in 2023, with a growth rate of over 8% between 2023 and 2027. Interest in cloud gaming has grown by 900% over the last five years, according to the Samsung Internal Gaming Trends Report by SEAO Future Generation Lab, released earlier this year.
Appliance Retailer December 2023
However, GfK data for the 12 months to September 2023, paints a weaker picture for the gaming accessories category, comprising monitors, headsets, mice and keyboards, which recorded double-digit volume and value declines year-onyear of 13% and 15% respectively, following record sales during the pandemic. Gaming mice is the only segment with a relatively stable year-on-year trend, driven by popularity of wireless devices. The shift towards wireless technology is evident across all gaming peripherals, with wireless gaming headsets and keyboards both experiencing moderate growth in an otherwise declining market.
