New research from Parks Associates finds the US cloud gaming market could generate nearly $3 billion in annual subscription revenue, as 30 percent of US broadband households currently express interest in this service. In Cloud Gaming Demand and Preferences, the research reports 74 percent of US broadband households to play video games for at least one hour per week. Gamers play for an average of 22 hours per week, a number skewed towards massive gamers, and PC gaming shows the most significant gains as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic.
"There is a renewed interest in offering cloud gaming services that replicate Netflix's value proposition by allowing consumers to stream games over the internet, across multiple platforms, and without having to download files or use local processing power," said Kristen Hanich, Senior Analyst, Parks Associates. "We estimate, based on consumer interest in these services, the US cloud gaming market stands to generate nearly $3 billion in annual subscription revenue, with the opportunity to generate more revenue via service stacking and add-on sales, provided these offerings are designed and targeted correctly."
Parks Associates finds multiplatform gamers are the key consumer segment to target for initial rollouts. The research also notes the average number of hours played per week has increased since the COVID-19 outbreak. In particular, PC gaming saw a substantial increase in the number of hours played weekly, while gaming consoles were the only platform to show a decline in usage among heads of households from Q3 2019 to Q1 2020.
From the article "US Cloud Gaming Market Aims to Generate Nearly $3 Billion in Annual Subscription Revenue."
