Gaming currently accounts for only a small proportion of European mobile entertainment revenues but it is a growing sector that will be worth â‚Ź3 billion by 2008, according to a report by Analysys.
The emergence of Java handsets prompted the development of colour arcade games which have attracted considerable interest from consumers. The mobile industry has also succeeded in ironing out the bugs which have hampered take-up to date.
Analysys predicts that mobile gaming revenues will grow from â‚Ź200 million in 2002 to almost â‚Ź3 billion in 2008, equivalent to a fifth of the total wireless entertainment market. N-Gage, a new gaming phone from Nokia, is a sign of things to come and an increasing number of downloadable games are available on the web.
Rachael Beale, the report’s lead author, said: “Java handsets have become more widely available over the last 18 months, and mass market interest in mobile gaming has grown strongly as a result. Users are swapping Snake for arcade simulations and film tie-ins, and the release of new devices optimised for gaming, like Nokia’s N-Gage, is likely to encourage take-up further.”
Revenues from mobile device gaming will reach almost $7 billion worldwide by 2010, according to Informa Media Group (see Gaming Revenues To Hit $7bn By 2010, Says Informa).
