Gaming software sales to hit $7.7 billion this year
The US gaming software
sales for September are expected to be $412 million, a
19% increase from the same month last year, according to Pacific Crest Securities'
report. The report also revised its
expectations for the industry's total software take for the year, predicting console, handheld, and PC game
sales to jump 9.6% to $7.69 billion.
NPD reported that non-PC game software sales rang up $397 million in August, a rise of 17.5 percent versus the year before. Current-generation software--games for the PlayStation 2, Xbox, GameCube, and Game Boy Advance--accounted for $249 million. Nnext-generation software--DS, PlayStation Portable, and Xbox 360 games--earned $148 million. During the month, around 205,000 Xbox 360s were sold, a slip of 1% compared to July. So far in 2006, the console has sold some 2.4 million units, according to NPD.
Online PC and mobile games, and especially so-called casual games, will push the South Korean gaming market to more than $2 billion in 2007--a rise of about 18% from its current size of $1.7 billion, according to market-research firm Pearl Research (via Gamespot/Yahoo). With 79% of South Korean households owning at least one computer, PC gaming is the largest sector of the country's gaming industry. The second-largest sector of the country's industry--mobile gaming--is also the fastest-growing, the firm said. Expected to exceed $275 million next year. Console gaming is the smallest sector in South Korea.
In March, Pearl Research predicted that the Chinese game market in 2006 would exceed $760 million. In 2009 it will rise to about $1 billion, according to the firm--half of South Korea's predicted figure for 2007.
