Subscriptions to online gaming sites are expected to top $3.7 billion by 2009--up from $647 million last year and an expected $936 million this year, according to a recent study by
PriceWaterhouseCoopers.
The study, cited in a recent report by research company eMarketer, also predicts that the number of online video game subscribers will top 28.5 million 2009--up
from a forecast of 6.5 million this year and 4.4 million last year. Almost half--46 percent--of broadband households will be home to an online video game subscriber.
A similar report by
Japanese-based Nomura Research Institute, also cited by eMarketer, forecast similar growth for the industry in that country, with growth of roughly $700 million in 2004 and reaching about $1.8 billion
by 2009.
Among the actors cited by PriceWaterhouse in this rapid expansion was the rise in popularity of broadband Internet connections, which expanded and enhanced the possibilities for
experiencing games online.
Other observers also see a democratization of the game-playing experience, which has helped gaming find a more general audience. "Previously, we saw only fairly
esoteric highly involved multiplayer online role-playing games, which are very popular amongst a certain dedicated gamer--but they cost a lot and they require a lot of play," says Paul Jackson,
principal analyst with Forrester Research in Amsterdam. "Now games are a lot simpler to get into, easier to play, and the casual market of gaming is where both mobile games and console game
manufacturers see the market going."
Gaming's ever more complex technological innovations have also slowed, thus increasing the appeal to players who don't want to buy many extras in order to
play. "Technologically, these games are not advancing as fast--not pushing technology enveloped as fast--as they were, and that broadens the demographic quite a bit," says Jackson.