Aug 13 (Reuters) - Research firm Newzoo dialed back its annual growth forecast for the global videogame market on Tuesday, as console sales underperform amid a relatively light release schedule of games this year.

WHY IT'S IMPORTANT

The gaming industry went through a tumultuous first half of the year, fraught with mass layoffs, studio shutdowns and project cancellations arising out of weak gamer spending.

The industry has been slow to recover after player engagement rates peaked during the pandemic, eventually giving way to a slump in spending once lockdown curbs eased and people came out of the virtual world.

PlayStation 5 maker Sony last week reported fewer console sales in its first quarter compared to a year ago. The company cut its forecast for full-year console sales in May.

KEY QUOTES

"Although overall playtime has declined since its peak in early 2021, gamers still play and pay for gaming, showing the market's resilience," according to Michiel Buijsman, Principal Analyst at Newzoo.

This year and the last, PC gaming has benefited the most from console exclusives moving to PC and the lack of console content.

BY THE NUMBERS

The market is now expected to grow 2.1% and generate $187.7 billion in revenue from earlier growth projections of 2.8% to $189.3 billion.

The global gamer community is also expected to grow 4.5% in 2024, according to the report, reaching 3.42 billion people, with North America accounting for 7% of the global players.

The report says that personal computing will outpace mobile and console segments in 2024, with revenues are expected to increase by 4%.

The dynamic, however, is expected to shift in 2025 as Nintendo gears up for the launch of the Switch's successor, and Take-Two Interactive releases the highly anticipated "Grand Theft Auto VI". (Reporting by Zaheer Kachwala in Bengaluru; Editing by Shailesh Kuber)