APRIL 22, 2016, 8:49 AM EDT
Growing smartphone usage trumps purchases of expensive computer games.
People playing games on their mobile phones will spend more than the hardcore audience of PC gamers for the first time this year. By next year, the hordes of Candy Crush andClash of Clans players will even be outspending gamers on Xbox, PlayStation, and other consoles, according to a new report.
Spending on mobile games, mostly for in-game purchases, will account for 27% of the $99.6 billion global video gaming market in 2016, market tracker Newzoo reported. The $27.1 billion worth of skipped levels and sacks of digital gems is up 24% from last year and forecast to increase another 18% to $32 billion in 2017.
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PC gamers will spend $26.7 billion this year, just a 4% increase from last year, while console gamers will top the charts in 2016 spending $29 billion, a 5% increase.
With spending rates expected to continue to increase only modestly among those hardcore gamers over the next few years, the expanding ranks of more casual mobile gamers is becoming the most important—and most lucrative—segment. Thus, Activision Blizzard ATVI -0.17% paid $6 billion for Candy Crush saga publisher King Digital in February.
But the bulk of the action is in China, Newzoo highlighted. Chinese gamers are forecast to spend a total of $24.4 billion in 2016, edging out U.S. gamers spending $23.5 billion.
Source: http://fortune.com/2016/04/22/mobile-gaming-pc-sales/
