According to new research data from Gartner Inc., an estimated $74 billion will be spent on gaming on 2011, delivering - by year's end - a 10 percent increase over 2010 numbers. The firm also estimates that two-thirds of that money will be spent on software. By 2015 that number will grow to $112 billion.
“As the popularity of smartphones and tablets continues to expand, gaming will remain a key component in the use of these devices," said principal research analyst Tuong Nguyen. "Mobile games are the most downloaded application category across most application stores. For this reason, mobile gaming will continue to thrive as more consumers expand their use of new and innovative portable connected devices."
The data comes from a new report called "Market Trends: Gaming Ecosystem 2011." It also predicts that software will lead hardware in sales for 2011, with online following suit. When micro-transactions and subscriptions from online games are included, they estimate a compound annual growth rate of 27 percent through 2015.
"We find that subscription fees are giving way to ‘freemium’ models, in which the game is provided for free to gamers but is monetized through advertising (both in-game advertising and display advertising) and in-game micro-transactions, such as the sale of value-added services or virtual-good purchases,” noted research director Brian Blau. “This trend is prevailing given the rise of social gaming, in which online gaming is connected to social networking sites and social networking platforms.”
We're not sure if this report takes into account new hardware from Nintendo and Sony, but it's an interesting set of predictions.
Source: Industry Gamers
