Growth

Today, industry revenues total $30 Billion and are expected to reach $70 Billion in the next five years. Video game revenues are beginning to surpass those of music and motion pictures. Online games (as opposed to consoles), mobile games (cell phones) and casual games are the fastest growing segments. In 2006, sales of video games totaled $13.5 Billion, an 18% increase over 2005¹. In December of 2006, 65.9 million people played video games online². Young men ages 18-34 are playing games each night an average of four times longer than watching TV³.

"The industry-tracking NPD Group today released its US retail gaming sales results for December and for the entirety of 2006, and the figures showed a record sales year and growth almost across the board." - Game Spot, "NPD: Game Industry" - 1.11.07

Online PC Games - The Subscription Model

The top selling PC game of 2006 "World of Warcraft"⁴ , a subscription-based MMOG "has just surpassed 8 million subscribers worldwide, including over 1 million in Europe and somewhere between 1.5 and 2 million in North America, with most of the remainder in China." - MMOGChart.Com, "Online Gaming Demographic", June 06

"Two very different genres, massively multiplayer online games (MMOGs) and casual games, account for over three quarters of revenue. MMOGs rely almost entirely on subscription revenue, while casual games get revenue from advertising, digital distribution, and, increasingly, subscriptions." - Business Week Online, "Online Games Boom: Who Benefits?" - 3.8.06

"Subscription revenue from online games was $2 billion in 2005 and is expected to grow to $6.8 billion by 2011. Furthermore, subscription revenue is only one part of the online game business equation. Advertising and digital distribution revenue are also expected to grow significantly." - Business Week Online, "Online Games Boom: Who Benefits?" - 3.8.06

Console Games

"The online console gaming market is set to take off, as the new generation of consoles arrives with advanced networking and online gaming capabilities,' says Michael Wolf, principal analyst of broadband and multimedia research. 'The ability to download game demos, buy casual as well as full-fledged console games, and access advanced content, including HD video, will result in 'online' becoming the key technology component of gaming for this and subsequent console generations.'" - ABI Research, "Video Game Business to Double by 2011, Driven by Online and Mobile Gaming" - 2.16.06

"North America is expected to pass Asia in subscription revenue, accounting for 35% of online game subscription revenue in 2011. This will be largely driven by increasing console online games. In 2011, it is forecasted that 29% of worldwide subscription revenue will be from console systems." - Business Week Online, "Online Games Boom: Who Benefits?" - 3.8.06

Virtual Economies

Virtual economies are emerging online, with transactions in virtual communities such as Second Life totaling $1.5 Million each day.

The woman on the cover of Business Week is the avatar (the cyberspace character) of Anshe Chung. "The Chinese born language teacher now living in Germany has amassed virtual assets worth more than $250,000 by buying virtual land, developing it, and selling it or renting it out. Now she's known as the Rockefeller of Second Life." - Business Week, "My Virtual Life", May 2006.

"One of the most interesting and unexpected things to arise from online gaming is the birth of real-world economies based on the value of persistent world game characters and items. Trade in these digital goods continues to grow, and it has already gone from being a pastime pursued only by a handful of hard-core gamers to being a fledgling industry in its own right." - About.Com, "Gaming For Money: Trading Game Assets", 2007 a simple system, trading 20 minutes per day, five days per week. ME3 Global completed its first set of instructional DVDs for the FOREX market.