Video Games in Mexico

PRE-COVID-19 PERFORMANCE

Increasingly strong gaming culture in Mexico supports ongoing growth by video games in 2019

Video games in Mexico was the more dynamic performer within Mexican toys and games in 2019, following the category’s stronger current value growth compared to 2018. Mexico is now the most important country in Latin America for the purchase of video games, accounting for approximately 70 million gamers in 2018 (85% of the local population) with growth outperforming music, sports and cinema combined according to the country’s Games Laboratory of the Digital Culture Center.

Video games software continues to drive value growth in 2019 as video games hardware matures

Video games software continued to dominate value sales of video games in Mexico in 2019 in addition to recording the stronger performance. While demand for hand-held consoles and static consoles under video games hardware continued to wane in 2019 due to their long replacement time and growing maturity, the niche of AR/VR headsets, which only entered the country in 2016, continued to be a dynamic performer, recording double-digit growth in both volume and current value terms.

Xbox One retains leadership of highly fragmented competitive environment in 2019 but comes under increasing pressure from Nintendo

Microsoft’s Xbox One retained its overall leadership of the highly fragmented competitive environment of video games in 2019. This is due to its strength within static consoles, although the brand came under increasing pressure from second-ranked Nintendo Switch at the end of the review period, as it continued to lose value share to the contender.

2020 AND BEYOND

COVID-19 impact

In 2020, sales of video games are now expected to grow by 10% at constant 2019 prices in light of the impact of COVID-19. This compares to an 11% rise in sales forecast in our 2019 edition of toys and games.

Affected products within video games

With Mexicans looking for a variety of entertainment to relieve boredom and pass the time during the long hours spent in the home environment during lockdown, sales of both video games hardware, a category which was experiencing slowing demand, and the more dynamic video games software, are both set to record stronger value growth at constant 2019 prices.

Recovery and opportunities

Video games hardware is set to continue to experience overall declining demand with 2021 set to witness different scenarios in the performance of the various platforms. Declining demand for hand-held consoles is predicted to soften from 2021 as some consumers may still be tempted to purchase the newer Nintendo Switch Lite which emerged at the end of the review period, while waning demand for static consoles is set to strengthen over the course of the forecast period as consumers postpone larger purchases in the likely event of financial uncertainty while many avid gamers who already own this type of console are more likely to further invest in the latest games releases.

Files are delivered directly into your account within a few minutes of purchase.