eMarketer: half of UK internet users to play online games in 2019

By 2019 half of all UK internet users will be playing online games at least once a month, according to research firm eMarketer.

The company’s first UK online gaming forecast predicts that 48.6% of internet users in 2017, equating to 26.4 million people, will play online games in 2017.

This includes mobile, social and online console gaming, with UK digital gaming penetration tipped to grow to 49.4% in 2018, 50.0% in 2019, 50.6 in 2020 and 51.1% in 2021.

eMarketer senior analyst Bill Fisher said that mobile gaming is “driving growth in this segment,” with online gaming “no longer the preserve of a core demographic made up of young, tech-savvy males.”

“Rising smartphone and tablet use, bolstered by social networking games, has led to greater levels of engagement across all age and gender lines.”

According to the research there will be 42.7 million smartphone users in the UK this year, representing almost four-fifths of internet users and 64.3% of the population.

Some 54.1% of these UK smartphone users, roughly 23.1 million people, will play digital games on their devices at least monthly in 2017, said eMarketer.