Gaming market to generate R917 billion in 2013

The worldwide video game market is on the rise, according to research firm Gartner.

The market, which includes consoles hardware, software, online, mobile and PC gaming, will reach $93 billion in 2013, which is up significantly from the $79 billion in 2012.

This is said to be due to strong mobile and new console and software sales, which will further help reach the $111 billion in 2015.

“As mobile devices (smartphones and tablets) continue to grow, the mobile game category will show the biggest growth due to the entertainment value provided by games compared with other app categories,” said Brian Blau, research director at Gartner.

Gartner worldwide gaming market revenue forecast

Gartner also added that the release of the PS4, Xbox One and new PC tech will be interesting given that many gamers are shifting to mobile options.

“Sony and Microsoft are releasing their game consoles in November and pent-up demand for these new consoles has caused a temporary reduction in game console hardware sales during 2013, but growth will resume during 2014 and sales of existing console hardware are forecast to grow from $15.9 billion today to $22.7 billion in 2015,” said Blau.

Some of the significant growth in mobile games also comes from revenue in the emerging markets, such as South Africa.

PlayStation 4 will launch on 13 December 2013 in South Africa, with the Xbox One still awaiting an SA release date.

Regarding South Africa, local music and entertainment retailer Musica has revealed that the company is losing gaming sales.

PwC recently released their annual analysis of the South African entertainment trends in their 4th Annual South African Entertainment and Media Outlook: 2013 – 2017 forecast, and the reports showed that the SA PC gaming market is slowly declining while the console and mobile market is still on a growth trend.

MyGaming also caught up with local retailers to find out how the market is doing and how they are reacting to the fluctuating exchange rate.