News

Newzoo predicts mobile games sales will overtake console in 2015

New research suggests the only way is up for mobile

Newzoo predicts mobile games sales will overtake console in 2015

Largely thanks to increasing demand in Asia, research firm Newzoo has predicted that mobile games sales will overtake console in 2015.

The firm estimates that mobile gaming revenues increased by 43 per cent last year to a total of $25 billion worldwide. This year it claims that this figure will rise to $30 billion, edging ahead of console gaming that will make $26.4 billion.

However, it’s worth taking these predictions with a pinch of salt. Newzoo has admitted that it’s found it difficult to get precise numbers for the whole market, so these remain very much estimates rather than benchmarks.

East beats West

Still some interesting trends have emerged from the research, such as the possibility that the gaming chasm between Asia and the west could widen in 2015 as mobile gaming becomes even more popular in the east.

While mobile gaming will increase in popularity around the world, Newzoo predicts that console gaming will still remain the dominant medium in North America pulling in $11.1 billion to mobile gaming’s $7.2 billion.

However, in an interview with Fortune, Newzoo’s CEO Peter Warman was keen to stress that in 2015 we won't see a shift where mobile gaming replaces console gaming altogether; instead he argued it will complement it.

"Smartphones and tablets have given gamers two new screens to play games on in addition to their TV and PC screen. Because US consumers use all four screens, mobile gaming does not replace console or PC gaming," he said.

"Moreover, it gives gamers the possibility to play games anywhere at any time, pushing overall time spent on games in the US up 40 per cent in only two years."

"Playing games on the TV or PC will not disappear," added analyst Vincent van Deelen.

"They are different screens, each with their own right of existence. What we see happening now is that money spent on games is gradually being spent more equally across all four screens."


News Editor