Consumers around the world will spend more than $74 billion on gaming in 2011 according to the latest report by analyst firm Gartner, Inc. Spending on the gaming ecosystem which, among other, includes gaming consoles such as Sony PlayStation, gaming software and mobile gaming, will increase by 10 percent by the end of the year compared to 2010. Gartner estimates that by 2015, spending will climb to staggering $112 billion.

In the next five years, the gaming software will see the largest growth representing close to two-thirds of consumers’s gaming spending. In 2011 the gaming software component will represent $44.7 billion. 

“This large market size means that many consumers embrace gaming as a core piece of their entertainment budget and will continue to play as long as game publishers deliver compelling and fun games,” Fabrizio Biscotti, research director at Gartner said in a statement.

Online gaming today accounts for $11.9 billion of total gaming market spending, but the analyst firm projects that by 2015 it will rise up to $28 billion. Gartner says that mobile gaming will see the biggest growth opportunity with its share growing from 15% in 2010 to 20% percent in 2015 within the gaming software market.

“As the popularity of smartphones and tablets continues to expand, gaming will remain a key component in the use of these devices. Although they are never used primarily for gaming, mobile games are the most downloaded application category across most application stores,” said Tuong Nguyen, principal research analyst at Gartner. “For this reason, mobile gaming will continue to thrive as more consumers expand their use of new and innovative portable connected devices.”

According to the report, the segment that will drive the largest revenue will come from video game consoles, both hardware and software. Hardware’s market share will remain stable over the next five years while software spending will lose share to online-gaming spending. Gartner estimates consumer spending on worldwide online gaming will show a compound annual growth rate of 27% through 2015.

Similar Posts:

Share