Analytical company PricewaterhouseCoopers (PwC) has released a large-scale report on the Russian entertainment market. Special attention is devoted to the video game market.
Video games
According to PwC, the volume of the Russian video game market has almost doubled over the past 5 years and amounted to $1.9 billion. Most of the market accounts for the segment of social and casual games — $ 1.2 billion. At the same time, the total revenue of the console games segment reached $299 million last year.
With an average annual growth rate of 5.6% by 2023, the entire volume of the domestic market will reach $2.5 billion. Social and casual games will remain the main driver, analysts say. Their annual growth rate will be 7.1%. As for the growth rate of the console market in Russia, it will remain at 3.4% per year.
Esports
In 2018, the total revenue of the Russian esports market reached $12.7 million. This is 42% more than a year earlier. PwC expects that the average annual growth rate of the esports segment in the period from 2018 to 2023 will be 19.8%, and the total revenue by 2023 will be $31.2 million.
The main drivers of growth in the forecast period will be the sale of media channels and event tickets. Analysts believe that such a pace will allow Russia will remain on the 9th position among the leading countries in terms of the esports market.
Among the main market trends, PwC highlights the emergence of brands that are not directly related to IT. Among them, for example, there are the drug “Kagocel”, shampoo Head & Shoulders, razor Gillette, “Mail Bank” and others.
Virtual reality
A large chapter in the report is devoted to virtual reality. According to analysts, the volume of the Russian VR market last year amounted to $26 million. It is predicted that the average annual growth rate until 2023 will be 31%.
It also notes that half of the revenue of the VR industry in Russia, as in the world, is related to video games. Another 40% accounts for video content and only 10% for other types of applications.
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