Total consumer spend on games peripherals stood at $8.2bn in 2021, according to the findings from Omdia’s first Games Peripherals Forecast. After standing at just $6.3bn and $6.4bn in 2018 and 2019 respectively, peripherals revenue exploded during lockdown, rising 23% in 2020 alone as consumers sought to improve their home entertainment options.
The flip side of this COVID-related growth is that revenue will fall by 13% year on year in 2022 as twin factors take effect – a correction from the new gaming patterns initiated by lockdowns and a general tightening of spend from consumers exposed to greater macroeconomic pressures than before. Yet peripherals remain on a new, higher growth path, with revenue as of 2027 forecast to hit $8.5bn. Gamepads are the largest contributors to peripherals spend, accounting for 45% of the total in 2022.
“Spend on games peripherals rose more or less in lockstep with the huge increase in games content spend in 2020, as gamers sought to optimize their console and PC games playing with high-end accessories, while new consumers picked up a gaming habit and increased the total addressable market,” commented Dom Tait, Research Director of Omdia’s Games team. “On top of strong performances for console gamepads, accessory manufacturing companies like Turtle Beach, Razer, and Logitech were also major beneficiaries.”
“By contrast, 2022 has seen peripherals revenue disproportionately affected by cost-of-living pressures: it’s set to fall 13% compared with the 4% forecast dip in games content spend as consumers feel more able to delay the purchase of new peripherals than miss out on games themselves. Nevertheless, lockdown spending has placed the peripherals market in a more positive position than pre-pandemic, while the recently announced $199 price point for Playstation’s DualSense Edge wireless controller demonstrates the confidence that manufacturers retain in the top end of the market.”
The Games Peripherals Market Database covers the US, Canada, France, Germany, Italy, Spain, UK, China, Japan, and South Korea. Each territory contains splits for gamepads, headsets, keyboards, mice, and other types of peripherals such as gamer chairs and steering wheels covering between 2018 to 2027 inclusive.
