The worldwide market for mobile gaming will grow at an average 16.6% per year to hit $18 billion in 2014, according to the latest report by Pyramid Research. That’s over twice as much as the market was worth in 2008. It says the consumer growth in emerging markets will fuel this increase, as will increased usage in developed markets.
Jan ten Sythoff, manager of mobile content at Pyramid Research and one of the report’s authors, explained the growth: “For many users, handsets are the first device they own that enables access to electronic forms of entertainment. Declining handset and data access prices have been central to the increased use of data services in emerging economies; also, because devices such as PCs and gaming consoles are less common, the mobile phone has become the primary device for accessing content such as websites and games. This, combined with improving economic conditions, is resulting in increased adoption of mobile content and data services.” [Press release]