NEW YORK -june 22, 2005- The video game sector will remain one of the hottest growth areas of the U.S. and worldwide entertainment economy over the next five years, according to the sixth annual edition of PricewaterhouseCoopers' "Global Entertainment and Media Outlook" report, which is scheduled to be released Wednesday.
Driven by a new generation of hardware devices as well as an expansion in wireless and online games professional services firms, worldwide consumer spending on video games will increase from $25.4 billion in 2004 to $54.6 billion in 2009 for a compound annual growth rate of 16.5%, the report projects.
For the current year, PwC predicts an 8.4% gain to $27.5 billion, marking the smallest annual improvement for the five-year frame as consumers tend to spend less ahead of new gaming console launches.
For the same reason, U.S. gaming revenue expansion will slow from 8.5% in 2004 to 2.9% this year, lifting the gaming market size to $8.4 billion at year's end, the report said.
The compound annual growth rate for the 2005-09 period will hit 12.9% in the U.S., below the worldwide gains but safely ahead of gains expected for other U.S. entertainment sectors. This would leave 2009 gaming revenue at $15.1 billion.
Hollywoodreporter.com (Georg Szalai)
