A new study from the IDC notes that online gaming revenue throughout 2007 has been steadily increasing, and they’re expecting the to hit $583 million in revenue by the end of the year. This is due to gamers slowly becoming accustomed to downloadable content and paid subscriptions.
In a statement, IDC analyst Billy Pidgeon said, "By the end of 2007, over 31 percent of online capable videogame consoles in North America will be in active online use by 14 million online console gamers." As I’m sure anyone can see, Xbox Live is becoming quite a profitable ordeal for Microsoft, due to its ease of downloading content and online play.
Pidgeon also suggested that retailers should begin preparations for the rapid interest in online-use. He noted that during 2007, content sold via online outranked traditional retail sales. If gamers are getting accustomed to just downloading games, then retailers are in trouble.
"In 2007, game-related downloadable content derived from manufacturers’ proprietary online console networks will reach $296 million, while subscription revenue will increase from $107 million in 2006 to $277 million…While software sales are still significant — increasing from $8 billion in 2006 to $9.5 billion this year — content sold, accessed or downloaded online to videogame consoles over manufacturers’ proprietary networks will remain the industry’s most exciting growth opportunity in this hardware cycle."
On a personal note, I think Steam is one of best innovations of the past few years. So much downloadable content in an easy-to-use system is just dynamite with the normal consumer, and is an excellent tool for gamers.
