Global games market worth over $100bn

It’s always been hard to accurately value the total worth of the entire games industry given the trade’s mix of large private and public companies.

But canny investment banker Paul Heydon of independent banking firm Avista Partners offered a glimpse into the total value of the market – and where all that money is going – in a stat-packed talk at Edinburgh Interactive this week.

In fact one key factoid in his talk on disruption in games investment was that the total market cap of all public games companies globally had exceeded $100bn – to $105bn to be precise.

The chart below sums up Heydon’s findings.

It shows the $105bn broken down as follows:

Nintendo – $34,959m
Other PC/Console (w/out Nintendo) – $33,223m
Online – $23,457m
Mobile – $8,257m
Retail – $3,110m
Payment Services – $1,368m
Distribution/Accessories – $311m
Outsourcing – $255m

While the figures don’t include independent developers and small private publishers – they are companies which are arguably in a significant minority when you compare their accounts to the numbers in the chart above – this offers real insight into the market’s dynamics, especially when consolidation is such a massive M&A force in games at the moment.

Heydon pointed out that online games – which includes MMO and social/casual games – was now worth around 71% of the non-Nintendo PC/Console area.

He also said that mobile may seem small, but will keep growing, and also eat into the larger shares taken by the Nintendo and non-Nintendo segments. Same goes for Payment Services, which will grow and benefit in line with the rise of online and mobile.

Worst news was for retail and distribution, which Heydon insinuated was stagnating. He later pointed out that investor expectations for the retail sector had devalued by 64%.