Daily Update: The State of Play of Gaming

Today is Friday, February 28, 2025, and here’s your?curated selection of essential intelligence on financial markets and the global economy?from?S&P Global.?Subscribe?to be notified of each new?Daily?Update.?

The video game industry registered modest growth in 2024. According to S&P Global Market Intelligence Kagan research analyst Neil Barbour, who specializes in the gaming market, overall video game content revenue rose 1% year over year to about $46.45 billion in 2024. This modest growth was not evenly distributed. Nintendo's revenue was down $1 billion year over year, perhaps due to the company’s decision to extend the life of its Switch console. Meanwhile, revenue growth from Tencent, Sony and Microsoft overcame Nintendo’s revenue weakness. Microsoft’s growth in the video game category provided positive closure to the company’s Activision Blizzard acquisition, which was long delayed by regulatory issues.

Barbour expects an increase in dealmaking for the video game industry in 2025. The regulatory overhang that delayed Microsoft’s purchase of Activision Blizzard may prove less onerous under the Trump administration. As such, Microsoft, Meta, Netflix and Amazon may be more willing to contemplate acquisitions. Much of the deal activity will take place among mobile or aspiring mobile game publishers, which are among the biggest revenue-generating segments of gaming, according to Barbour. Given the challenging environment for user acquisition and revenue growth over the past year, the industry appears ripe for consolidation.

The metaverse has been a bright spot for the industry. Metaverse investments bounced back in 2024 after two years of contraction. Investment funding for the segment increased 42.9% to $14 billion across debt and capital markets. Notable transactions include a $90 million round for Luma AI, a text-to-3D asset generation tool, and a $600 million debt round for Magic Leap, which has pivoted to focus on projecting 3D images on wearable lenses. Metaverse e-commerce company Infinite Reality recently completed a $3 billion round as companies increasingly focus on deriving revenue from their metaverse investments.

Despite increased investment in metaverse players, augmented and virtual reality hardware providers continue to struggle to get traction. According to Barbour, consumers have been reluctant to invest in VR headsets, especially at current price points. For example, Meta’s Quest 3 headset starts at $500 and Apple Inc.’s Vision Pro starts at $3,500.

?“What the market really needs right now is a piece of software that captures the public imagination,” Barbour said. “Sometimes you hear a smartphone is $500, $800, $1,200, and people have no problem paying that kind of money. If [augmented and virtual reality] wants to charge those prices, they’ll need to prove it’s worth the money. And so far, it hasn’t.”

Today is Friday, February 28, 2025, and here is today’s essential intelligence.

Written by Nathan Hunt.

Sustainability

Sustainability Insights: Sustainable Bond Outlook 2025: Asia-Pacific Issuance Could Hit Record High

Asia-Pacific's sustainable bond market is poised to rebound. S&P Global Ratings anticipates record-high issuance of US$260 billion in 2025 through catalysts that include: lower interest rates; refinancing and dynamic local-currency debt capital markets; regulatory reassurance on instruments' claims; and, increasing participation of sovereign and government-linked entities. Conversely, economic uncertainty, evolving trade policies and geopolitical tensions may still weigh on issuance, as slower global demand hits growth in the region.

—Read the article from S&P Global Ratings

Economy

Economic Research: Understanding the Decoupling of Copper Prices and GDP Growth in Chile and Peru

Historically the world's first and second largest copper producers, Chile and Peru, have seen economic growth closely track the commodity's price. However, S&P Global Ratings notes an apparent decoupling of this trend in recent years. Despite copper prices reaching historic highs of more than $4 per pound on average between 2022 and 2024, GDP growth in both countries trended lower over that period.

—Read the article from S&P Global Ratings

Capital Markets

Australia's Home Underinsurance Could Spread Risks

Australian home and contents insurance costs are soaring. S&P Global Ratings believes this trend could lead to wider gaps in coverage, exposing more homeowners and their bank lenders to risks. Government involvement in the sector could rise, particularly in high-risk locations where insurers may exit or limit coverage. For insurers, the trend may drag on volume growth for policies but could improve margins and firm up capital positions.

—Read the article from S&P Global Ratings

Global Trade

CPC Pipeline Damage and Oil Market Implications Amid Ongoing Russia-Ukraine War

In what was the first direct hit from drone attacks on the Caspian Pipeline Consortium route since the onset of Russia's invasion of Ukraine in 2022, close to 1.5 million b/d of crude output from oil giant Kazakhstan has been brought into the spotlight. The development comes with an uptick in broader energy infrastructure attacks and against a backdrop of US and Russian talks over the war's near-term future. What impact does a damaged CPC pipeline have on crude oil markets in the Mediterranean and more frequent refinery attacks mean for products in the region?

—Listen and subscribe to the podcast from S&P Global Commodity Insights

Energy & Commodities

Russian Wheat Surges to Highest Price in 21 Months Amid Tight Supply

The Platts-assessed FOB Russian wheat price for 12.5% protein surged to its highest level since May 2023, reaching $254/mt Feb. 25 amid tight supply and slow exports. The last time the price was this high was in May 2023, when Russian traders stayed below an unofficial price floor level of $275/mt to appeal to buyers' bids and to sell off their old crops before the new season started in July.

—Read the article from S&P Global Commodity Insights

Technology & Innovation

Digital Assets Brief: Bybit Hack Underlines Importance of Cyber Resilience

Crypto exchange Bybit suffered the largest heist in crypto history. On Feb. 21, 2025, the attackers — allegedly the North Korean state-sponsored Lazarus group — stole approximately $1.4 billion in crypto assets from the exchange's wallet. Previously, the largest crypto hacks targeted vulnerabilities in smart contract codes or cross-chain bridges (applications that transfer tokens from one blockchain to another.) This hack follows a more recent trend that targets the people and equipment operating wallets through conventional off-chain cyberattacks, rather than the on-chain setup itself. The transfers sending funds to the attackers were all approved by senior Bybit staff who acted as signers.

—Read the article from S&P Global Ratings

Events & Webinars

TPM 2025 (Long Beach, California | March 2-5, 2025)

TPM, organized by the Journal of Commerce by S&P Global, is the premier conference for the trans-Pacific and global container shipping and logistics community. TPM annually presents the industry’s most in-depth program delving into the most pressing challenges affecting container shippers in North America and globally. The event annually attracts the most senior-level audience in this industry and is a platform for a week of essential and intensive networking, negotiations, and relationship building among the multiple parties in the international container shipping supply chain.

—Register for the conference