Online gaming market will exceed $ 4.4 billion by 2010

According to Parks Associates , the online gaming market will quadruple over the next five years, and by 2010 it will exceed $ 4.4 billion. These estimates are based on observations of current market development and related industries, as well as interviews with publishers.

The main driving force for this growth will not be game consoles or mobile devices, but personal computers. The study showed that the average PC gamer spends 18.5 hours per week on games, while the owner of the set-top box is only 8.9 hours, and even less is played from mobile devices — 4.6 hours per week.

The study showed that among all American gamers can be divided into six groups, the percentage ratio between which is shown in the graph :
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* enthusiastic gamers make up 11% of the total audience and bring 30% of the profits to game publishers;
* social gamers play with friends;
* gamers at their leisure spend on games about 58 hours a month and play the most standard games;
* hidden gamers could become passionate, but at the moment they have to spend a lot of time on family, work or study;
* episodic gamers are characterized by a lack of motivation, but spend 20 hours a month and more on online games;
* Random gamers choose puzzles, board games and crosswords.