Report: Video Games $68.3 Billion Market By 2012

Author: by Staff

A new report from PricewaterhouseCoopers has estimated that total revenue for the games industry will reach $68.3 billion by 2012, primarily due to jumps in mobile and online game sales, saying both will more than double over the next four years. Reuters has reported that the new "Global Entertainment and Media Outlook: 2008-2012" report calls for console game sales to rise from $24.9 billion in 2007 to $34.7 billion by 2012, while online sales jump 16.9 percent to $14.4 billion. Wireless game sales are expected to rise from $5.6 billion to $13.5 billion, and Reuters reports that the company expects in-game ad sales to double from $1 billion level in 2007 to $2.3 billion in 2012. The report also states that retail PC game sales should fall slightly, from $3.8 billion in sales in 2007 to $3.6 billion in 2012. Finally, Reuters says PWC's key factors for industry growth are "mobile phones capable of downloading games with sophisticated graphics and displaying them on relatively large screens; an online market driven by the increased penetration of broadband households; and the increasing popularity of massively multiplayer online games that earn revenue through subscription fees and microtransactions."