According to a new report from analyst firm DFC Intelligence, the worldwide online game market is forecasted to grow from $3.4 billion in 2005 to over $13 billion in 2011, driven by the increase in broadband households, higher PC penetration and more connected console video game systems.
The abstract for a longer DFC report on the matter, "The Online Game Market" suggests a growing number of consumer subscription services, the emergence of online digital distribution and increasing acceptance of games as an advertising mechanism as key growth factors. Interestingly, during this time period, North America is expected to challenge current market leader Asia as the leading region for online games.
Despite the strong growth, the leading online game category is expected to remain high-end MMOs that appeal to a fairly small portion of the total user base, according to DFC. "MMOGs have a sophisticated online business model that drives a great deal of revenue for the top products," says DFC analyst David Cole. Other popular game genres like sports, racing and action still derive most of their revenue from retail sales with online game play as a free value add. According to Cole, this is gradually changing as more of these products go online.