Analyst: 'Fierce' Competition To Drive $66b In Sales Through 2012

Analyst firm JupiterResearch has released initial details on a new report which suggests growing competition and continued growth within the the console market will result in revenues of $66 billion by the year 2012. According to the firm's latest report, titled "US Console Games Forecast, 2007 to 2012," over the next five years the console market will experience competition that “will be fiercer than ever,” resulting in a competitive field that is “much closer than in the past.” States Michael Gartenberg, vice president and research director at JupiterResearch, “This is no longer the winner-takes-all market of the past.” In the shorter term, the firm expects that the console market will grow to generate $12.8 billion within the US in 2007, while JupiterResearch feels this trend will continue into 2008 with game consoles being found in more than 50 percent of US homes by next year. The analysts predict that by the close of 2012, the range in market shares among the current generation of consoles will be much closer than in previous years at just under 10 percent rather than the 33 percent range at the end of the last hardware cycle in 2005. “Each platform supplier brings a special set of strengths to the market and to competition in current generation of systems,” said Gartenberg. “On top of that we have seen a dramatic rise in the proportion multiplatform releases from independent publishers over previous generations.”