Online gaming revenues will double in four years

Online games are becoming more popular. While some analysts simply say that online games make more money than offline, analytical company Strategy Analytics went further and published the report Online Games: Global Market Forecast . Strategy Analytics suggests that online game revenue will increase to $ 11.5 billion by 2011, with an annual growth rate of 25.2%. This is significant, but if you compare online games with the gaming industry as a whole, then the revenue from multiplayer online games will take 11% of the total market, that is, almost doubled.

Strategy Analytics found out that by the end of last year there were approximately 30 million subscribers of all MMORPG games, and the overwhelming majority of subscribers - approximately 73% - were in the Asia-Pacific region. In North America, on the contrary, the share of subscribers to MMORPG games is very small: it seems they prefer regular gaming consoles.

The report says that the key factor in the growth of MMORPG popularity is the global emergence of broadband Internet access. “The main engine for the rapid growth of the online gaming market will be the continuation of the global introduction of broadband access to the Network; the number of broadband Internet users will increase from 665 million in 2006 to 1.3 billion by 2011, the report says. As a result, by 2011, 80 million subscribers to various MMORPGs are expected, and online sales will increase to 659 million downloads of paid games.

via ArsTechnica