Analyst: Tablet gaming revenues to surpass $3.1B by 2014

Analyst firm Juniper Research suggests that worldwide revenues from tablet games will have reached $3.1 billion in total by 2014, up from $491 million in 2011. The firm believes that the larger screen size of recent tablets, coupled with the advanced graphical capabilities that tablets are now able to achieve, are encouraging more and more users to purchase games and in-game items. In particular, Juniper believes more hardcore gamers will notice the "improved experience" offered by more recent tablets -- it says that having console-style buttons shown on tablet screens will pull more console gamers in, and not obstruct the screen as much as these kinds of buttons usually do on smartphones. The report also claims that typically, tablet owners have "a higher disposable income than the general smartphone user base," and therefore are more prone to spending money on games and in-game items than other demographics. Finally, Juniper suggest that by 2016, tablet games will account for nearly a third of overall mobile games revenue, while revenue from mobile games on feature phones will halve over the next five years. The report's author Charlotte Miller explained, "The tablet is the perfect device for playing mobile games... Higher user satisfaction with games and a bigger wallet mean that tablet games look to be highly lucrative."