The
worldwide video game marketplace, which includes video game console
hardware and software, online, mobile and PC games, will reach $93
billion in 2013, up from $79 billion in 2012, according to Gartner.
Driven by strong mobile gaming and video game console and software
sales, the market is forecast to reach $111 billion by 2015.
Mobile
games are the fastest-growing segment of the market, with revenue set
to nearly double between 2013 and 2015 from $13.2 billion to $22 billion
(see Table 1).
"As
mobile devices (smartphones and tablets) continue to grow, the mobile
game category will show the biggest growth due to the entertainment
value provided by games compared with other app categories," said Brian
Blau, research director at Gartner. "This growth is fueled by healthy
premium mobile device sales globally and a desire by consumers to play
games on these multifunction devices that are capable of displaying
increasingly sophisticated game content."
2013
is an important year for the game industry as Sony, Microsoft and
recently Nintendo are releasing their next-generation video game
consoles to a market that may be moving in another direction due to the
popularity of mobile devices.
"Sony
and Microsoft are releasing their game consoles in November and pent-up
demand for these new consoles has caused a temporary reduction in game
console hardware sales during 2013, but growth will resume during 2014
and sales of existing console hardware are forecast to grow from $15.9
billion today to $22.7 billion in 2015," said Blau. "In stark
contrast, dedicated game handheld devices and traditional PC games will
play a smaller role in the game market and cease to be important game
platforms.
Table 1. Video Game Market Revenue, Worldwide, 2012-2015 (Millions of Dollars)
Segment
|
2012
|
2013
|
2014
|
2015
|
Video Game Console
|
37,400
|
44,288
|
49,375
|
55,049
|
Handheld Video Games
|
17,756
|
18,064
|
15,079
|
12,399
|
Mobile Games
|
9,280
|
13,208
|
17,146
|
22,009
|
PC Games
|
14,437
|
17,722
|
20,015
|
21,601
|
Total Video Game Market
|
78,872
|
93,282
|
101,615
|
111,057
|
Source: Gartner (October 2013)
Some
of the significant growth in mobile games also comes from revenue in
the emerging markets. Today, mobile app revenue comes from the U.S. and
Europe, where smartphone and tablet penetration is greatest. However,
growth in device sales in emerging markets is accelerating. The
potential to sell-in back catalog games exists in emerging markets,
because many game players in these regions don't have the means to
purchase games on multiple platforms, and games titles on mobile devices
are considerably less expensive than those on game consoles."
Online
and PC games remain popular but this segment is limited in overall
size. Gartner expects that traditional PCs will not be replaced by newer
PCs in households, but by tablets. This will lead to a progressive
reduction in the installed base for PC games as game players adopt other
device types as their primary computing platforms. PC and online games
will remain popular, but compared with game consoles and mobile games,
it is PC games that will take a backseat as game players make a choice
of convenience and popularity.
"Moving
forward, game developers will need to constantly deliver compelling
games as the growth of content and platform choices drives game players
in divergent directions," said Mr. Blau. "The propensity for a game
player to choose any single game is based on their desire to play, and
it's the game developer and designer that best understand the
cross-section of creativity and technology. As video games, their
platforms and gameplay ideas continue to expand, so this will in turn
drive demand for play."
Comments
Post a Comment