Back in the good old days of Atari, kids couldn’t wait to get home from school to sit in front of the TV play a game of pong with their friends. Oh, how times have changes. Nowadays, the variety of games available for mobile gameplay on smartphones, tablets, and laptops are endless and as more and more users turn to their mobile electronic devices for their gaming needs they have slowly turned away from traditional static gaming consoles.
Major players in the Global Gaming Console Market like Nintendo, Microsoft and Sony have all experienced profit losses as a result of mobile gaming. It doesn’t help that the gaming console market hasn’t been overhauled since Sony’s PlayStation 3, way back in 2006. For almost 7 years, vendors have only released technologies like motion detection by upgrading the existing system capabilities and this innovation-stagnancy is starting to have a negative impact on sales.
It’s not game over yet, however. Fortunately, several emerging trends like the ones detailed below are expected to drive market growth at a slow but steady CAGR of 3.93 percent for the 2012-2016 period.
- New Technological and Product Developments
Recently, Nintendo released Wii U, which is the beginning of eighth-generation gaming consoles. With advancements in high-definition technology and Wi-Fi capabilities have provided new opportunities like online gameplay and access to the internet for the gamers.
- Rapidly Changing Gamer Demographics
The average age of console gamers is now 24 as opposed to the previous age of 17, and this older gamer demographic seems to favor in-house gaming consoles. The increasing demand for more adult oriented games has led vendors to create games which cater to every age group.
- Increasing Disposable Consumer Income
The gaming industry was put on pause when the recession hit, but as the economy continues to rebound, more players are picking their controllers back, buying new games and accessories. Also, as the gaming demographic continues to shift more from teens to adults, the income of the average gamer has also increased, allowing for more purchases of high-end gaming applications and devices.
So will these factors be enough to keep in-house gaming consoles in 1st place?
Mobile gaming has proved to be a worthy competitor, but even the best mobile games still can’t compete against the gameplay quality of in-house gaming consoles. And soon, traditional gaming consoles will have an even bigger edge in the market as the long-awaited Microsoft’s Xbox One and Sony’s PlayStation 4 are both scheduled for release in late 2013, which will no doubt send gamers of all calibers into a frenzy and drive market growth in the years to come.
For more information, view our 2012-2016 Global Gaming Console Market report.
