According to Reuters the market's growth is forecasted at a meagre 2.7 per cent from the end of 2023 to 2026, a far cry from the robust 7.2 per cent surge witnessed from 2015 to 2021, according to the report.

Gamers are clocking in fewer hours, with average quarterly playtime nosediving by a staggering 26 per cent from 2021 to 2023.

And the downward spiral is poised to persist this year, with weaker gaming release schedules predicted to slash playtime by around 10 per cent in January alone.

Newzoo warned that slower player growth rates would hamper the industry's ability to 'expand the pie' via net organic growth,

In February, Japan's gaming giant Sony Group declared that it won't be rolling out any major new franchise titles like "God of War" and "Marvel's Spider-Man" in the upcoming fiscal year. The company also slashed its full-year sales forecast for PlayStation 5 consoles due to lacklustre holiday season sales.

Moreover, industry heavyweights such as Sony, Tencent Holdings' Riot Games, and Electronic Arts have cut hundreds of employees and downsized operations.

Amidst this tumultuous landscape, gaming industry consolidation looms large, with fewer publishers and a select few titles scooping up a lion's share of player engagement.

Each month in 2023, a mere 28 to 34 publishers commanded a whopping 80 per cent of monthly active users, a publisher count on a downward spiral since 2021, according to the report.

Simultaneously, five juggernaut titles, Epic Games' "Fortnite," "Roblox," "League of Legends," "Minecraft," and "Grand Theft Auto V," lorded over 27 per cent of all playtime last year.

Fortnite and Roblox are thriving thanks to their games-as-a-platform model, enabling players and creators to churn out content, allowing these platforms to "stay ahead of the content treadmill, Newzoo said.