A new research report by industry analyst Colin Sebastian for RW Baird predicts that the global game industry will generate right around $60 billion in total revenue for 2011, and is growing at a rate of 10 percent annually. By 2014 the industry will hit $80 billion, he predicts. The areas where most of this growth will occur are in mobile and online games, while other areas will remain flat or decline.
One of those areas where it will remain flat is packaged software sales in 2010, with any growth attributed to Xbox 360 and PS3 sales being offset by a decline in Wii and handheld game sales. This quarter will see strong sales with many big titles coming out, and those positive sales will be enough to pull the quarter out of the loss category for the year.
Sebastian predicts that the mobile market will rake in around $2 billion in revenue this year, with growth continuing thanks to the rapid adoption of smartphones and tablet devices. Sebastian also believes that tablets can be the next great market for games, mainly because they are better suited for playing games on than smartphones are.
Sebastian sees hope for the core games segment in the broad appeal for casual games which may drive more people to what most of us see as the mainstream of gaming with the deeper experiences that console games and PC games offer. He sees the PC game market doing better in 2012, mostly on the strength of hit releases like Diablo III. Handheld devices will be flat in 2012. Sebastian believes the PS Vita may be able to take the leading position from the 3DS as well.
Sebastian sees the social games space continuing to grow. Console games will add more social elements, and at some point social games outside of Facebook will become more popular. He predicts the growth rate in that sector surpassing 10 percent annually for the next 3-5 years.
Source: IndustryGamers
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