(1888 PressRelease) New DFC Intelligence forecasts for the game industry are being released and indicate that the industry will grow significantly over the next five years.
A series of new reports from DFC Intelligence examine growth prospects for the worldwide video game software industry. The reports forecast that the global video game industry will reach $100 billion by 2019. However, this revenue is likely to be extremely fragmented among many market segments. This includes revenue from PC games, console games and mobile games but does not include hardware spending.
The new console game systems are expected to pass over 200 million in units by 2019 with the Sony PlayStation 4 leading the way. The challenge is that the Xbox One and Nintendo Wii U will underperform their predecessors and by 2019 all the major game systems are expected to be in decline.
The main trend that has been occurring for years has been a movement to digital revenue as opposed to revenue from sales of physical products. Products that are delivered digitally to mobile, PC and console devices will account for 85% of revenue by 2019 with the remaining 15% of revenue sales of physical media for dedicated portable and console game systems. "A major challenge with digital remains distribution," says DFC analyst David Cole. "Retailers are expected to remain a major force in the digital age as long as they can maintain their relationships with consumers."
A major issue discussed in the reports are the challenges presented by free-to-play/freemium models. According to DFC, with a handful of exceptions, outside of Asia freemium business models are not ideal for core consumers. "Unfortunately in the mobile game space, consumers have balked at paying any money upfront. Most games were never designed for a freemium model and therefore never have a chance," said