A new Mordor Intelligence report forecasts cloud gaming to grow faster than the overall U.S. gaming market through 2031. Its cloud and streaming category is projected at a 9.16% CAGR, compared with 8.5% for the full gaming market.
Mordor estimates the U.S. gaming market at US$68.90 billion in 2026 and forecasts US$103.58 billion by 2031. Subscription passes are also projected to grow at an 8.74% CAGR over the same period.
Cloud Gets Its Own Growth Forecast
The 9.16% figure is useful because Mordor treats cloud and streaming gaming as its own platform category.
That is different from looking at gaming subscription revenue and assuming it represents cloud gaming. A subscription can include downloaded games, online multiplayer, discounts, and other benefits that have nothing to do with playing through the cloud.
We see the same distinction in our monthly Circana coverage. Circana tracks subscription revenue, but that number cannot be turned into a cloud gaming growth rate.
Mordor’s forecast gives us a cloud-specific category. It is still a projection rather than a measured future result, but the scope of the 9.16% figure is clear.
Microsoft’s Numbers Show Cloud Use at Scale
Microsoft has also provided a useful real-world look at how much gaming is already happening through the cloud.
CEO Satya Nadella said more than 500 million hours of gameplay were streamed through the cloud during Microsoft’s 2025 fiscal year. Microsoft separately reported that Game Pass generated nearly US$5 billion in annual revenue for the first time.
Those numbers belong beside each other, but they are not interchangeable. The streamed-hours figure tells us about cloud use. The Game Pass figure covers a much broader subscription business.
That distinction gives the Mordor forecast some current context without treating every Game Pass customer or dollar as cloud gaming.
The U.S. Story Is Different From Africa
Yesterday’s Africa report tied much of its cloud forecast to new data centre capacity, telecom bundles, and broader network investment. The U.S. report focuses more on an established gaming market, recurring subscriptions, cross-device access, and lower local computing requirements.
Mordor also points to 5G fixed wireless as one factor that could expand cloud access. A faster connection does not guarantee a better cloud gaming experience, but broader high-speed access increases the number of places where the technology can work.
That makes this a different story from our monthly U.S. market reports too. Circana tells us what is happening in the market now. Mordor is looking several years ahead and expects cloud gaming to grow faster than the U.S. gaming market overall.
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