Gaming Revenues To Hit $7bn By 2010, Says Informa

Informa’s report shows that three emerging sectors – broadband, mobile and interactive TV (iTV) – will contribute a growing share of the games market’s total revenues, up from 5% in 2003 to 40% by 2010, although consoles will continue to dominate.

Global Games Market Value By Sector ($m)
	2002	2003	2007	2010
Console hardware	7,187	6,047	6,445	5,358
Console software*	14,922	16,449	13,969	13,077
Handheld hardware	1,307	1,501	1,925	1,206
Handheld software*	2,326	2,238	2,693	1,602
PC software*	3,707	3,806	3,135	2,617
Broadband	290	497	2,137	4,106
Interactive TV	133	249	1,955	4,130
Mobile	243	587	3,783	6,928
Total	30,114	31,370	36,043	39,024
* sales and rental
Source: Informa Media Group, July 2003

Global Games Market Share By Sector (%)
	2002	2003	2007	2010
Console hardware	23.9	19.3	17.9	13.7
Console software*	49.6	52.4	38.8	33.5
Handheld hardware	4.3	4.8	5.3	3.1
Handheld software*	7.7	7.1	7.5	4.1
PC software*	12.3	12.1	8.7	6.7
Broadband	1.0	1.6	5.9	10.5
Interactive TV	0.4	0.8	5.4	10.6
Mobile	0.8	1.9	10.5	17.8
Total	100.0	100.0	100.0	100.0
* sales and rental
Source: Informa Media Group, July 2003

Informa says that the emerging game sectors will start to reduce the importance of and reliance on the ‘hardcore gamer’. Games offered via interactive TV and mobile phone have the potential to target a very wide range of people, most of whom fall within the category formerly thought of as ‘casual’.

“While hardcore gamers are useful to get these new services up and running, their long-term viability is dictated by their ability to attract the public at large. This will mean offering a wide range of games products, ranging from simple titles for those users who are not familiar with traditional game platforms, to more sophisticated offerings for the games aficionado,” says the report.

Separate forecasts from DFC Intelligence predict that revenues from the online gaming sector will reach $5.0 billion by 2008. This figure incorporates spend from ad revenue and pay revenue from both consoles and PCs (see Online Gaming Revenues To Pass $5bn By 2008, Says Report).