As if the current figures in the realm of video games wasn't large enough alone in North America (topping $15.1 billion in 2009) the world market revenue for gaming is expected to balloon from the impressive $52 billion dollar figure in 2009 to the gargantuan sum of $86 billion dollars by 2014.
PricewaterhouseCoopers’ entertainment and media outlook between 2010 and 2014 was released and the video game chapter breaks out some fascinating numbers, pretty much confirming what some savvy economists have been saying all along: gaming is a financial force to be reckoned with.
As mentioned, the North American breakdown from 2009 brought in an estimated $15.1 billion but will expand to an estimated $20.7 billion by 2014, mainly due to the mainstream home consoles, the Wii, Xbox 360 and PS3 and handheld devices such as the Nintendo 3DS/DS and PSP.
However the largest gaming market in the world right now is the Asia Pacific region which garnered a very impressive figure of $19.4 billion in 2009 and is expected to be the fastest growing region within the next five years and estimated to grow at a 16.3 percent compound annual rate to $41.3 billion in 2014. This is mostly in due part to the free-to-play MMO market that made a heck of a lot of South Korean publishers billions of dollars very quickly over the past couple of years. Nevertheless, there’s going to be a lot of short, rich dudes strutting their stuff to the bank in South Korea in 2014.
The second largest gaming market in the world, the EMEA, also known to most gamers as the PAL territories, is estimated to expand from $16.8 billion in 2009 with an annual growth rate of 6.4 percent, to $23 billion in 2014.
Interestingly enough the PC market is expected to deteriorate in favor of a stronger presence from consoles, high rates of piracy and better establishment from the MMOG genre. There’s no real surprise with that data, though.
You can check out some interesting tidbits of information released from the research data below. For more info feel free to visit the Official PwC Website.
North American Video Game Market Estimates
• Consumer spending on games will expand at a 6.1 percent compound annual rate to $19.2 billion from $14.3 billion in 2009, while advertising will rise from $877 million in 2009 to $1.5 billion, an 11.7 percent increase compounded annually.
• Console/handheld games will continue to dominate the market, increasing at a compound annual rate of 6.1 percent to $14.4 billion in 2014 from $10.7 billion in 2009.
• Online games are expected to increase from $2.1 billion in 2009 to $3 billion in 2014, growing by 7.7 percent on a compound annual basis.
• Wireless games will increase by 7.1 percent on a compound annual basis from $918 million to $1.3 billion in 2014.
• The PC game market will decrease to $514 million in 2014 from $601 million in 2009, a 3.1 percent compound annual decline.
EMEA Video Game Market Estimates
• The overall video game market is anticipated to increase from $16.8 billion in 2009 to $23.0 billion in 2014, growing at a compound annual rate of 6.4 percent.
• Consumer spending on video games will grow by 6.2 percent on a compound annual basis from $16.4 billion in 2009 to $22.2 billion in 2014.
• Video game advertising is expected to grow by 13.5 percent on a compound annual basis from $426 million in 2009 to $802 million in 2014.
• Console/handheld games will continue to be the largest segment of the market, increasing by 5.4 percent compounded annually from $10 billion in 2009 to $13 billion in 2014.
• Online games—driven by both casual games and MMOGs—will increase by 11.9 percent compounded annually to $4.9 billion in 2014 from $2.8 billion in 2009.
• Wireless games will increase to $2.3 billion by 2014, up from $1.5 billion in 2009, a 9.5 percent compound annual increase.
• PC game sales will dip from $2.2 billion to $2.0 billion, a 2.0 percent compound annual decrease.
Asia Pacific Video Game Market Estimates
• End-user spending on video games will total $40.9 billion in 2014, growing 16.3 percent on a compound annual basis from $19.2 billion in 2009.
• Advertising will increase from $227 million in 2009 to $472 million in 2014, growing by 15.8 percent compounded annually.
• Console/handheld games will grow to $8.5 billion in 2014, increasing by 4.3 percent on a compound annual basis from $6.9 billion in 2009.
• Online games will become the largest category in 2010, reaching $22.6 billion by 2014, a 27.3 percent compound annual increase from $6.8 billion in 2009.
• Wireless games will surpass console games in 2014 to become the second-largest category. Spending will grow at a 14.1 percent compound annual rate to $8.9 billion in 2014 from $4.6 billion in 2009.
• PC games will fall by 1.4 percent compounded annually to $852 million in 2014 from $912 million in 2009.
Latin American Video Game Market Estimates
• End-user spending will rise to $1.7 billion in 2014, growing at a 9.2 percent compound annual rate.
• Console/handheld games will grow by 7.3 percent compounded annually from $607 million in 2009 to $863 million in 2014.
• The PC game market is expected to reach $135 million in 2014 from $115 million in 2009, a 3.3 percent compound annual increase.
• The wireless game market will increase from $320 million in 2009 to $561 million in 2014, growing at 11.9 percent on a compound annual basis.
• The online game market will reach $150 million in 2014 from $61 million in 2009, growing by 19.7 percent on a compound annual basis.
• Advertising is expected to grow at a 14.4 percent compound annual rate from $24 million to $47 million in 2014.
