Online Gamers Forecasted to Increase as Consoles Sale Falls

by MJK on April 14, 2009

In a new research report, it has been forecasted that the global online gamers are expected to increase by 20.4% from 2005 till 2013 as the global sale of gaming consoles falls due to the ongoing economic recession. The recession will result in increase installed base of the currently available models as they are expected to last for a longer period before their big brothers are launched. Moreover, the overall consumer awareness of the online gaming has also incrased sizably and more and more people are getting hooked to it. The increasing penetration of broadband in the developing world has also added its load to the long chain of online gamers.

In the year 2010, it has been forecasted that the sale of consoles will substantially decrease and their life cycle will increase. Currently, Nintendo Wii, Xbox 360 and Sony Play Station 3 are the three main consoles available in the market.

All three are working hard to increase their brand royalty and to hook more and more people to their online gaming mode.

The research further revealed the following:

• each of the three key vendors is positioned to generate hundreds of millions of dollars in annual online gaming revenue from online service subscriptions, download revenue and/or online advertising;
• Microsoft’s Xbox Live service will clearly lead, with projected revenue of over $1 billion in revenue annually by 2013;
• worldwide broadband subscriptions will reach $562 million in 2009;
• the combination of broadband, installed home networks, and pervasive Wi-Fi in gaming devices, is fueling online gaming subscriber growth.
In 2008, total video game console unit shipments reached $88 million worldwide, up 7% from 2007.