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Study: 2012 game revs to hit $68.3 billion

PricewaterhouseCoopers paper says global game-industry sales will grow $26.4 billion in just five years.

Although sectors of the world economy are currently stagnating, the game industry is booming. Last year, the NPD Group reported nearly $19 billion of game sales in the US alone, not including downloadable content, online game subscriptions, or mobile games.

While the world's biggest game market, the US is only a piece of the global game-sales puzzle. According to a study by accounting and financial services giant PricewaterhouseCoopers, 2007 saw $41.9 billion in global sales of all types of games, including mobile and online games. It was unclear if that figure included game accessories, as NPD does.

While a staggering amount, last year's record haul will be outdone in years to come, according to PricewaterhouseCoopers. According to the Reuters news service, the company's new report titled Global Entertainment and Media Outlook: 2008-2012 says the game industry will continue to grow apace in the next five years at a compound annual rate of just over 10 percent. As a result, the paper's authors predict that in 2012, global game sales will hit at staggering $68.3 billion--dwarfing all other media sectors other than online advertising.

PricewaterhouseCoopers also broke down which gaming sectors will rise--and which will fall. The company predicts console games--led by the Wii, Xbox 360, and PlayStation 3--will go from $24.9 billion in 2007 to $34.7 billion in 2012, an annual growth rate of 6.9 percent. This increase will apparently come at the expense of the PC, which will see revenue slip 1.2 percent annually, from $3.8 billion in 2007 to $3.6 billion in 2012.

Ironically, as the study talks down the PC, it talks up "online games," presumably meaning subscription fees from massively multiplayer PC titles such as World of Warcraft. If PricewaterhouseCoopers' augury holds true, revenue in that sector will increase to $14.4 billion in 2012 from $6.6 billion in 2007. Last year, World of Warcraft developer and publisher Blizzard Entertainment generated more than $1 billion in revenue all by itself, and currently takes in more than $100 million each month in sales and subscriptions.

95 Comments

  • Niffirg6

    Posted Jul 2, 2008 7:19 am PT

    and thats way im going into the video game enginering biz.

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  • hotgamer03

    Posted Jun 29, 2008 5:09 pm PT

    dang... i can do alo of things with that kind of money

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  • thicknick

    Posted Jun 28, 2008 6:52 pm PT

    Yeah well there needs to be something just as big as WoW and better to start peeling that money away from Blizzard. And Blizzard seemed to know that that was going to happen sooner or later, which is why they're working on Starcraft 3 and Diablo 3 simultaneously (and WoW is how they can afford to).

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  • thekodaman

    Posted Jun 23, 2008 9:04 am PT

    I severely doubt that WoW will have anywhere near the same following as it does now in 2012, next-gen MMORPG's will take it's customers sooner or later.

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  • ps3thabest

    Posted Jun 21, 2008 4:21 pm PT

    thats alot of weed money and even more game money

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  • -Shan-

    Posted Jun 21, 2008 3:24 pm PT

    Finally, something GOOD about 2012.

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  • rudeboy1292

    Posted Jun 21, 2008 11:14 am PT

    lots of money u kno wat i could do wit that

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  • 705H1R0

    Posted Jun 20, 2008 3:49 pm PT

    -combatsoldier,
    That's wrong. The porn industry doesn't even come close:
    http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pornography#Economics

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  • DecadesOfGaming

    Posted Jun 20, 2008 2:11 pm PT

    Combatsoldier.... Do you research porn often ?!

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  • combatsoldier

    Posted Jun 20, 2008 1:46 pm PT

    Wow thats a lot of bread. They can share it with me if they want. lol. I totally believe this. There is only one idustry bigger then the gaming industry as of today. That is the porn business. I have done my research and believe it or not that is the truth. Its crazy to think how far games have come.

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  • drmnys

    Posted Jun 20, 2008 10:58 am PT

    tommyxx516, well said. It seems odd that despite the global economy being in tatters, the gaming industry continues thrive.....I mean isnt everything in the economy interconnected. & saying that it will continue to grow unchecked seems absurd. With the current state of things when people wont have enough income to cope with the ever increasing cost of essential commodities (FOOD, GAS), how are they gonna spend on games.

    I dunno, stories like this would have made me really happy.....but given the current state of things it scares me instead!!!

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  • dantesergei

    Posted Jun 20, 2008 7:09 am PT

    i have to find a game tester job right now

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  • matte989

    Posted Jun 19, 2008 4:27 pm PT

    There is so much money in virtual worlds if you are that evil genius. The magic is that .5 and if you can do it you will have more money than 'you know who'. Unfortunately only a few companies have figured that out. Hell, just look at the shape Conan launched in. I can't even imagine if the whole game was like levels 1-20. They would be literally wiping their 'donkies' with $100 bills. I hope EA Mythic is taking serious note of this launch. I only hope that the features on the WAR box work at launch. That's all I ask for crying out loud.

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  • peeweeshift

    Posted Jun 19, 2008 12:59 pm PT

    Lots of money :O

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  • Pedro7_2000

    Posted Jun 19, 2008 12:05 pm PT

    @ Ludovic - Pay raise or just ask for a fix bonus of 00.01% :-D

    • Login to rate this comment
  • Ludovic

    Posted Jun 19, 2008 11:38 am PT

    Insanity! I require a pay raise!

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  • 04JETTA

    Posted Jun 19, 2008 11:32 am PT

    well duh the video game industry is booming when people cant work what do they do

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  • grigjd3

    Posted Jun 19, 2008 11:03 am PT

    This prediction doesn't seem realistic. Generally, when a new generation of gaming consoles comes about, there is a transition period where gaming sales decreases for a while and then the industry picks up as we enter the new generation. Currently, the PS3, 360 and Wii have been out for a while now and many titles have been developed that make good use of the systems. But even the PS3 will be vastly outdated by 2012. Also, while the Wii has reached out to bring whole other sectors into the gaming market, it doesn't seem like that will be an easy task to repeat. I wouldn't be buying stock in the gaming industry right now. I'd wait till the release of the new gen when stock values are at a low.

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  • tommyxx516

    Posted Jun 19, 2008 10:31 am PT

    Does this mean EVERY game released by 2012 will get perfect 10 and cost $30 million to develop? Does this mean people will have money to buy all these games? Will there be more than 24 hours in a day to play all these games? Will people spend more to buy these games and not have to make a living to pay bills?

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  • sidewinder4534

    Posted Jun 19, 2008 10:30 am PT

    "As a result, the paper's authors predict that in 2012, global game sales will hit at staggering $68.3 billion--dwarfing all other media sectors other than online advertising."

    Damn. Video games have certainly come a long way from Pong

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  • LindBergh2007

    Posted Jun 19, 2008 10:04 am PT

    What saintsrowCS said.

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  • Steelpoppy

    Posted Jun 19, 2008 9:52 am PT

    My prediction, Americans will buy less titles than they previously do now by 2012. The economy is gonna screw

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  • prdroog

    Posted Jun 19, 2008 9:37 am PT

    Huh...I don't know what to think of this news. On the one hand I guess it's cool that vids will come to dominate media. -but on the other hand, is it cool that gaming is consuming that many lives? Life's not a game....-or is it?
    -and all this video game playing is actually making us better human beings?
    Then again, isn't 2012 when the worlds supposed to end anyway? Will video games really matter that much when that happens? -if that happens? I could go on about this.

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  • akiwak

    Posted Jun 19, 2008 9:20 am PT

    I hope that this encourages governments to stimulate the growth of the gaming industry by giving incentives. This is the one sector that is currently helping rebalance the economy help it, don't hurt it or slow it down!

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  • janderdarkmoon

    Posted Jun 19, 2008 9:17 am PT

    Uh.... Re4leon....It's a joke. But then again, maybe you are just afraid to belive, MUWAHAHA

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  • re4leonkennedy

    Posted Jun 19, 2008 9:13 am PT

    I can't believe people are commenting on the world ending in 2012. The world's been around for million of years and it's going to end because the Mayan calandar ends. Who believes that garbage?

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  • Phazevariance

    Posted Jun 19, 2008 9:07 am PT

    Time for blizzard to reduce their monthly fees by 50% they are taking in more than it costs to maintain.

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  • LindBergh2007

    Posted Jun 19, 2008 8:57 am PT

    Ghetto-Fabulous,punkpunker and tommyxx516 ypu guys are so right! These anylists don't know what thier talking about! It's absolutely ludacrious to make bold predictions like that. To say that video game industry is reccession proof shows a total lack of intellegance and insight on thier part. In 1983, industry pundits predicted the same thing but look what happened!

    So yes, it's looking just like 1983 here with anylists using the same talking points. I'm suring that back then people were saying video game were Reganomics-proof.

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  • janderdarkmoon

    Posted Jun 19, 2008 8:26 am PT

    Not that it matters, the world is coming to an end in 2012 anyway. Heheh

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  • Ghetto-Fabulous

    Posted Jun 19, 2008 8:12 am PT

    I don't see that happening, I think they are under analyzing how much everything else will become much more expensive with the price of oil continuing to rise and the stagnating world economy. I still think the game industry will continue to grow, but not at that rate.

    • Login to rate this comment
  • The_Dude1212

    Posted Jun 19, 2008 8:03 am PT

    Nineball2112, I bet a lot of people also wished they invested in Microsoft when it was first founded too, lol.

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  • marco245

    Posted Jun 19, 2008 7:40 am PT

    I hate when companies get billions, yet charge monthly fees... Ripping us off...

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  • DecadesOfGaming

    Posted Jun 19, 2008 6:49 am PT

    It makes me proud knowing I'm part of the most successful entertainment industry on the planet.. BUT DON'T BELIEVE EVERYTHING YOU READ.. NOT ALL FIGURES ARE CORRECT !.. It does'nt really take a genius to work out that individuals are spending more hours of the day gaming than going to the movies or watching crap on T.V.. Personally I also hope that the gaming industry severely cripples the movie industry.. Or at least forces it to move in another direction.. Don't get me wrong, I love certain types of movies.. But I also think it's about time that every major movie corporation made these over paid cylicon/botox induced self obsessed actresses/actors obsolete, by replacing them all with sophisticated 'A.I' and 'C.G.I'.. (Example..George Lucas..Star Wars movie releasing later this year) Perhaps sometime within the future we might see a chain of Interactive Movie Complex's owned by MICROSOFT and SONY... Times are changing.. The average gamer now demands much much more, we still seek interaction, but we also seek exceptional graphics and emotionally challenging experiences.. Gone are the days when we just sat infront of the T.V watching endless supplies of 'Brain Dead' commercials.. "DEATH TO HOLLYWOOD AND T.V"... ""LONG LIVE GAMING""

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  • Nineball2112

    Posted Jun 19, 2008 6:41 am PT

    "Last year, World of Warcraft developer and publisher Blizzard Entertainment generated more than $1 billion in revenue all by itself, and currently takes in more than $100 million each month in sales and subscriptions."

    Man, that's an obscene amount of money. I wish I had thought of the idea of WoW first! Haha...

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  • lendrahcir

    Posted Jun 19, 2008 6:04 am PT

    "Last year, World of Warcraft developer and publisher Blizzard Entertainment generated more than $1 billion in revenue all by itself, and currently takes in more than $100 million each month in sales and subscriptions." Wow, I never knew that was that much money in that area, God dam these guys.. give me a slice of the money

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  • Iridiusstar

    Posted Jun 19, 2008 1:40 am PT

    Hurrah for the game industry, we win.

    • Login to rate this comment
  • dulun19

    Posted Jun 19, 2008 12:38 am PT

    that's a lot of money!..

    • Login to rate this comment
  • EliteSnipa

    Posted Jun 19, 2008 12:18 am PT

    lol mikethemonkey, anyways, gaming is very different from Hollywood, how i would agree that it is being geared towards casuals. Gaming will never enter the areas of our media that Hollywood is in.

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  • AgileNate

    Posted Jun 18, 2008 11:40 pm PT

    Mikethemonkey, gaming has become as bad as Hollywood. Games are no longer unique and all follow a hollywood path, which is to grab the larger consumer group AKA the Casuals. This is the worst console generation I have seen.

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  • Mp5slipknot

    Posted Jun 18, 2008 11:07 pm PT

    In 2012 we will finally have a machine capable of fully running Crysis at max specs and at a full 60 frames per second.

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  • Cabose420

    Posted Jun 18, 2008 11:04 pm PT

    Because the gaming market is considered an industry that thrives during times of recession tommy. idk the specifics, but i know its some thing like that. it's like the movie industry. it thrived during the Great Depression because people wanted to escape reality and their problems, and i guess its its the same case now with video games.

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  • mikethemonkey

    Posted Jun 18, 2008 11:01 pm PT

    Our time is now.We have been waiting for this moment to choke Hollywood and all it's ills! Lets do this thing!

    • Login to rate this comment
  • tommyxx516

    Posted Jun 18, 2008 10:44 pm PT

    did they factor in that the economy has and is currently going downhill. How will people spend more on games when more ppl are losing their homes either due to foreclosures or natural disasters? On a side note, I'd like to see what specific games that they know will be developed in 2012 that will drive sales...

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  • punkpunker

    Posted Jun 18, 2008 10:18 pm PT

    please DO NOT RELEASE ANY PREDICTION ABOUT THE FUTURE. IT'S BAD FOR ALL PEOPLE. i'm serious because back in the 80's, they predict that Atari 2600 make more money but after Atari released E.T, their business crashed like crazy!

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  • nnn2004

    Posted Jun 18, 2008 10:15 pm PT

    Hollywood in trouble.

    • Login to rate this comment
  • Pete5506

    Posted Jun 18, 2008 9:54 pm PT

    I can see that happing

    • Login to rate this comment
  • ddashboy242

    Posted Jun 18, 2008 9:54 pm PT

    cool

    • Login to rate this comment
  • RockaWuzHur

    Posted Jun 18, 2008 9:41 pm PT

    The way things are going, we might not even be alive by 2012

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