CEA: Games to pull in $12.5 billion this year

It's no surprise, but the producers of the Consumer Electronics Show (CES) are bullish on gaming. Recently the CES-organizing Consumer Electronics Association (CEA) announced that it was studying the viability of a replacement show for the recently downsized Electronic Entertainment Expo, and today it released sales forecasts that spelled out its interest in the market. Excerpts from the group's annual sales forecast report for the US market suggest a return to growth for the gaming industry in a big way.

For 2006, the CEA is expecting the US game industry hardware and software shipments to hit $12.5 billion, due to the Xbox 360 establishing itself in the market and the launches of the PlayStation 3 and the Nintendo Wii. And with the transition to the next generation of consoles nearly complete, the CEA is expecting the industry to grow through 2007. The group expects the US market's 2007 gaming take to hit $15 billion.

To put that number in perspective, the CEA expects the entire US consumer electronics market to reach $140 billion in 2006. As far as other specific segments go, portable music players are expected to hit $5 billion in sales, while the CEA believes televisions and other display technologies will reap more than $22 billion this year.