Report: Console Games In Decline, Social and Mobile On the Rise

A new report from research firm Newzoo shows that overall spending by gamers in the United States will reach 21.6 billion dollars for 2011, a slightly lower total than during last year, before growing by about 34 percent during 2012. The report says that the biggest growth will be seen in social gaming, including Facebook-based apps, and mobile gaming on Apple mode devices and Android smartphones will be the fastest growers, with percentages reaching 37 percent.

A strong positive trend is also linked to digital distribution, both on home console and on the PC, with growth coming in at 11%, with the main beneficiary being the Valve-created Steam.

Smaller increases will be seen in the MMO space and the casual game market, growing at 3 and 4 percent.

The decreases are linked to boxed console game sales, which will decline by a significant 20 percent and another drop in the boxed PC and Mac space, where a decline of 7% is expected.

Peter Warman, who is the chief executive officer and a co-founder at Newzoo, stated, “Everyone in the games industry understands that the new online and mobile free-to-play business models have the power to accelerate growth, especially in Emerging Markets.”

He added, “It is exciting to see concrete numbers on these markets and benchmark these with Western countries as well as zoom in on who is actually spending and what they are buying. Our latest report and our full research database reflects our ambition to provide the best total picture covering all platform and business model, including getting a firm grip on aspects others tend to ignore, such as consumer spending on DLC, pre-owned and imported games.”

Newzoo says that in 2012 the same trends will exist and that a number of new initiatives, like the recently announced Cloud Gaming from Apple, might change the way the gaming market evolves.

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