China console games market projected to approach $2.5bn by 2025 - Report

Niko Partners is projecting the Chinese console gaming market to grow through 2025.

The research firm has released its China Console Games Market report, which found that the grey market and legal spending on console hardware and software would total $2.46 billion by 2025.

Given the firm's 2020 assessment of $1.84 billion for the console market in China, that works out to a five-year compound annual growth rate of 5.9%.

The audience of console gamers is expected to grow even faster, jumping from 13.2 million last year to 23.9 million in 2025.

"The increase in spending through 2025 will primarily be driven by ongoing sales of the Nintendo Switch, a new console cycle with PS5 and Xbox Series X|S and increased demand for high-end games from Chinese gamers," said Niko founder and president Lisa Hanson.

"Other areas of growth opportunities in console gaming include subscriptions, free-to-play (F2P) and cloud gaming. Subscriptions are set to benefit console platform holders the most, while F2P and cloud gaming will benefit game developers."

While China's console market is growing, it will remain a relatively small part of the country's overall gaming market. Niko believes console gaming accounted for 4.1% of China's entire gaming spend last year, with that figure set to rise to 4.3% by 2025.