Female and casual gamers to push revenues over $10bn by 2009
Games that play to mobile strengths key to growth, says report
Global revenues for mobile games will grow from $3bn in 2006 to $10.5bn in 2009, according to a report from Juniper Research.
Creating games specifically with the strengths of the mobile handset in mind will be key to driving revenues in the mobile gaming sector, and not trying to replicate console or PC titles, said the research.
"Mobile games have come of age. They are no longer the poor relations of console and PC games," said Bruce Gibson, research director at Juniper Research.
"They are a different family of entertainment products with its own family characteristics. The casual games sector is going to be the market driver, even though it may not be at the leading edge of mobile games technology," he added.
With the traditional male games player growing up, new consumers are attracted to the market, and these include casual and female gamers, said the report.
"Casual games make most use of the inherent advantages of the mobile platform. People want to fill dead time with easy to use, but fun games. This is the same in just about every culture," said Gibson.