Market research firm Newzoo reports roughly $325 million was generated by eSports worldwide last year, and it predicts that number will rise 43 percent to hit $463 million by the end of this year.
Those figures come courtesy of a blog post published by the company today to drum up attention for its 2016 Global eSports Market Report, and helps shed some light on the state of the industry for developers who are interested in (or currently neck-deep in) making games geared for professional competitive play.
Newzoo’s figures encompass revenue from ticket and merchandise sales, advertising, additional game publisher investment and more (see chart embedded below), and are even higher now than in September, when it raised its eSports revenue forecasts for last year to $278 million due to faster-than-expected growth.
Looking ahead, the firm is effectively predicting a bit of a slowdown in global eSports revenue growth this year compared to the year prior, since Newzoo reports 2014-2015 saw a roughly 67 percent uptick in global eSports revenues — from $194 to $324 million. Whether it will once again revise its forecasts upward later this year remains to be seen.
Newzoo’s methods for compiling these reports encompasses a proprietary mix of data-gathering, interviews and predictions, and those curious to get the full picture (according to Newzoo) can pay for access to the company’s reports.
