Games Market To Expand 42 Percent In Two Years

The latest reports on the games industry from market research company DFC suggests it should grow from around $33 billion (£16.5 billion) in 2006 to $47 billion (£23.5 billion) - or by 42% worldwide by 2009.

The report forecasts particularly strong growth for PC gaming, reckoning that by 2012, the market will be worth over $13 billion (£6.5 billion) thanks in no small part to online game revenues, including subscriptions, digitally distributed games and advertising.

DFC also pointed towards the handheld market as a strong growth area. “Revenue from portable game software has more than doubled in recent years and we think that the Nintendo DS could eventually become the best selling game system ever in five years”, says DFC analyst David Cole.

DFC remains non-committal on the outcome for the home console platform wars, however. The reports estimate between 180 and 210 million sales spread between the Wii, PS3 and 360, but was unsure how those numbers will break down.

What the company did seem sure about, however, is that the 360 will languish at the back. “The Xbox 360 will need to build a strong base outside North America to avoid being in a fairly distant third”, according to Cole.

DFC sees the Wii as leading the hardware race through 2008, but thinks the PS3 could emerge as the dominant platform following that. “We could have a situation where the Wii sells more hardware units, but by 2012 the PlayStation 3 is generating more software revenue”, said Cole.

Amazingly, DFC apparently has no prediction regarding an imminent PS3 price cut.

^{Source: Toy News}