Mobile Games To Grow 50 Percent In 2007, Hit $5.6 Billion By 2011: Report

By James Quintana Pearce - Mon 18 Jun 2007 08:49 PM PST

The global mobile games market is on track to grow 49.9 percent in 2007 to $4.3 billion, and will hit $9.6 billion by 2011, predicts Gartner. Gartner defined mobile gaming as video games on mboile phones as long as there was some revenue stream—so demos, preloaded and prebundled games were excluded because there is no direct consumer revenue component. Regional differences will play a significant role in adoption rates for mobile gaming, with Gartner noting that even though mobile games are more expensive than other forms of mobile content in emerging markets mobile game is the only form of digital gaming widely available.

--Mobile gaming revenue in Asia/Pacific and Japan is forecast to surpass $1.8 billion in 2007, and reach $4.6 billion in 2011, reflecting a bigger appetite for mobile gaming.
--Mobile gaming revenue in Western Europe revenue is forecast to grow from $1.5 billion in 2007 to $2 billion in 2011. In a recent survey 10 percent of W. European respondents said they had used online mobile gaming and downloaded games at least once a month. Most users get the games from the operators portal.
--Mobile gaming revenue in North America is projected to grow from $716.9 million in 2007 to $1.7 billion in 2011. Gartner attributes this to slower adoption of wireless technologies, and noted that at the end of 2006, data revenue accounted for less than 13 percent of total mobile telecom service revenue—one of the lowest proportions among developed nations.
(release)