Worldwide Digital PC and Mac Gaming Forecast, 2023-2027: ARPU Ticks Up as MAUs Flatline and Live Service Games Shine

This IDC study forecasts digital PC gaming through 2027 worldwide and in four regions: North America, Western Europe, Asia/Pacific (including Japan), and a combined rest of world (ROW) region. From a gamer perspective, the digital PC gaming market includes players aged 16+ who game at least monthly on Windows, macOS, Linux/GNU, or Chrome OS systems. From a revenue or pretax retail spending angle, the forecast includes video game software and service spending derived through digital channels, plus the share of in-game display and video advertising revenue going to associated game developers and publishers. Five business models and gamer bases are forecast in the study: Client-based subscriptions; paid digital game, add-on/DLC, and season/battle passes; client-based free-to-play; browser-based instant, .IO, and Web3; and cloud streamed."Inflation and other factors weighed on PC gaming's growth this year, but we anticipate that total revenue will increase at an average rate of 3.3% from 2022 to 2027. The continued rise of live service games is clear in PC gaming, and it's evident that several of the largest publishers are investing to take advantage of this growth." - Lewis Ward, research director of Gaming, Esports, and VR/AR at IDC