The year we are currently in has undoubtedly been a breakthrough year for the gaming industry. The arrival of the so-called, next generation consoles has sparked unprecedented consumer interest.
A recent study by Informa Media Group, a British research company, suggests that the industry is headed for a record breaking year, with sales increasing by 12 percent to US$31 billion.
As most will easily guess, much of that increase is based on the recent release of Microsoft's XBox, Nintendo's GameCube and the knock-on effect those consoles had on sales of Sony's already well established PS2.
The aggressive competition between these companies has led manufacturers to a merciless price war, which in turn has created increased consumer interest. This is expected to result in combined hardware sales accounting for 70 percent of the market or US$22 billion.
Console Sales Figures
According to the same study all three major competitors are expected to have sold, a combined, 70.4 million units by the end of 2002. Sony, the best established of the manufacturers, will have 69 percent of the market, having sold 48.4 million PS2's. Trailing Sony by a year, Nintendo is expected to have sold 15.1 million GameCubes by the end of the current year while Microsoft will have circulated 6.9 million XBox units.
Although the current boom in console game sales is a recent phenomenon, the industry as a whole has enjoyed rapid growth in the past decade. It has become popular enough to be considered a worthy rival of the film and music industries.
According to Informa Media Group this current explosion in console sales will not die out quickly, The assumed launch of new console hardware in 2005 and 2006, and the resultant software boom, will keep the market buoyant, according to the study. The global market is forecast to peak again in 2008, with revenues of US$40 billion.
The Down Side
As can be expected however, sales of PC games will see a combined drop of 8.5 percent to US$ 8.5 billion this year. It is difficult to fully assess the total revenue generated from PC games however, since the recent success of MMOG's (Massively Multiplayer Online Games)
has clearly shown new ways in which games can increase revenue.
The same study goes on to claim that sales of online, interactive television and mobile phone games is expected to double this year to US$873 million.