Though North America has quite a ways to go to catch up to Asia and Europe in terms of the widespread mobile network availability, Gartner still expects big numbers for the mobile gaming sector in North America.
Mobile gaming revenues for 2007 are expected to be $717 million in North America, according to Gartner estimates. This figure is projected to grow to $1.7 billion by 2011.
Mobile game publishers have had an easier time getting their products to users thanks to mobile network operators, who have allowed its users to download and play games outside of a proprietary game platform.
The improved hardware performance in mobile devices has also helped in the growing pervasiveness of mobile games.
The overall outlook for the mobile gaming market has grown more optimistic over the past few years. Back in 2005, an IDC study published in The Wall Street Journal pegged 2011 mobile gaming revenues at $1.5 billion, which is more conservative than Gartner’s June 2007 projection.
Though texting and other services are currently far more lucrative than mobile gaming, many marketers are attracted to mobile gaming because of the access it gives them to males aged between 18 and 35.
Late last week a blog post on the Guardian site referred to a study that indicated mobile games have leapfrogged ring tones as a revenue generator in the U.K. Apparently, mobile consumers in the U.K. spent 83 million pounds (or $165 million) on mobile games in the first quarter of 2007, while 76 million pounds were spent on ring tones. Only 23 million pounds were spent on the mobile music sector.
Sources:
http://www.emarketer.com/Article.aspx?id=1005084
http://blogs.guardian.co.uk/games/archives/2007/06/29/mobile_
games_more_popular_than_ringtones_in_the_uk_shocker.html
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