Mobile game revenue to double to $22 billion as handhelds melt away

Sony and Microsoft's next-gen systems may have peaked interest in the console sector, but Gartner believes mobile gaming remains the driving force behind the video game market.

The research firm predicts that revenue from mobile gaming will almost double from $13.2 billion to $22 billion by 2015.

"As mobile devices continue to grow, the mobile game category will show the biggest growth due to the entertainment value provided by games compared with other app categories," explained Brian Blau, research director at Gartner.

"This growth is fuelled by healthy premium mobile device sales globally and a desire by consumers to play games on these multifunction devices that are capable of displaying increasingly sophisticated game content."

Indeed, it seems that whilse most mobile app revenue stems from the US and Europe - where the install base is greatest - device sales in the emerging markets are beginning to show significant growth.

Handhelds, however, will continue to struggle in comparison in the future, according to Gartner.

The firm predicts handheld revenue will fall from $18 million in 2013 to $12.3 million in 2015.

Of course, Nintendo and Sony will be doing everything in their power to make sure that this isn't the case, and whilst Gartner researcher Blau believes that handhelds will soon "cease to be important game platform," a statement of that magnitude is surely more than a little premature.

[Source: Gartner]