Online gaming predicted to grow sixfold
Published: 07 Jun 2002 07:31 BST
Six times as many online games will be played in 2006 compared with the number being played now, according to projections from new research.
The 400-page Online Game Market 2002 report from DFC Intelligence, a San Diego-based consulting firm focused on interactive entertainment and video games, says 114 million people worldwide are expected to be playing online games by that time, compared with the approximately 50 million playing today.
Game players can go online using either PCs loaded with game software or with specially designed consoles such as Microsoft's Xbox and Sony's PlayStation2 -- though PCs have the upper hand by far. The DFC report predicts that by 2006, some 23 million consumers worldwide will be playing console games online.
Online strategies for companies like Microsoft, Sony and Nintendo, maker of the GameCube, will also be important as categories become increasingly blurred, DFC President David Cole said.
"Microsoft's Xbox Live service is probably the biggest investment in online games yet. It is likely to be a major indicator of the future of console online gaming," Cole said in a statement.
Microsoft said in May that it would spend around $2bn to develop a subscription-based online gaming strategy.
The DFC report also says that the top online games in 2001 generated revenue in excess of $100m each. "This could bode well for some of the big budget online games being released in 2002," Cole said.
But the online gaming industry is still in its infancy, the report says, predicting that it will take awhile before companies learn how to make it effective. Jeff Brown, vice president of corporate communications for game publisher Electronic Arts, said last month that the business won't mature until 2004 or 2005.
"Online games should garner significant usage over the next few years," Cole said. "The major question mark is whether individual companies will be able to monetise that usage."
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