By The research firm Gartner has reported that video game software and hardware consumers have spent almost $74 billion this year. If last year, consumers spent $64 billion on online gaming and gaming hardware and software, by the end of this year they will have spent no less than $74.4 billion which means $44.7 billion on games, $18 billion on hardware and $11.9 billion on online gaming.
Research director at Gartner, Fabrizio Biscotti stated that “this large market size means that many consumers embrace gaming as a core piece of their entertainment budget and will continue to play as long as game publishers deliver compelling and fun games”. The fastest revenue growth will be in online gaming. This sector will reach a revenue of $21.5 billion in 2013 which means double than that of the current year. Moreover, in 2015 the online gaming revenue will jump to $28.2 billion.
The revenue in the video game hardware sector is expected to reach $24.6 billion in 2013 and $27.4 billion in 2015. As the research firm says, consumers will also spend quite a lot on software as well. Thus, they will pay $51.1 billion in 2013 and $56.5 billion in 2015. This will reach a total revenue of $112 billion in 2015. Mobile devices will have a great contribution to this revenue increase as Gartner’s principal research analyst, Tuong Nguyen, states. He says that: “As the popularity of smartphones and tablets continues to expand, gaming will remain a key component in the use of these devices” further adding that “although they are never used primarily for gaming, 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.”