According to the company’s research director, Piers Harding-Rolls, total spending could have been even higher if not for the lack of availability of PlayStation 5 and Xbox Series X|S. However, the fact that the price of these consoles reached up to $499 means that, while stocks were limited, the consoles sold still impacted the final figure.
According to Harding-Rolls, “spending growth was driven by the arrival of higher-priced new consoles and the broader adoption of subscription services like Microsoft’s Xbox Game Pass.” Total spending on games, DLC, battle passes, and in-game items in 2021 was lower than in 2020, but by only 1%.
2021 was also the first year that the share of physical game copies fell below 30% due to a growing preference for digital versions. The decline in physical sales could also have been accelerated by increased spending on console gaming services such as Xbox Game Pass.
Spending on gaming services grew by 20% compared to the previous year, with Ampere reporting that this was largely driven by Game Pass, while PlayStation Plus and Nintendo Switch Online made smaller contributions.
According to Ampere’s final estimates, the record for total global spending will be broken once again in 2022. The forecast projects $61.1 billion.