Australia’s video game industry suffered a significant hit in 2010, but the industry still has cause to be confident about the future.
In 2010, sales reached approximately $1.7 billion – a 16 per cent decline from the corresponding 2009 period, according to data compiled by GfK Retail and Technology, Australia.
Console game sales were down by 13 per cent, with 16.9 million units sold in 2010, compared to 19.3 million in 2009. Console sales were down even further – 27 per cent.
The one bright spot was PC game sales increased by 7 per cent to 3.1 million units.
But despite this slowdown, sales are still forecasted to grow to $2.5 billion by 2014 according to a study by PriceWaterHouse Cooper’s Australian Entertainment & Media outlook 2010 – 2014 report.
According to that report, online and mobile games are expected to drive the growth.
In addition, CEO of Interactive Games & Entertainment Association (iGEA), Ron Curry, said in a release “Compared to the most other international territories, our local interactive entertainment market has done considerably well to weather the global economic crisis which affected a broad range of entertainment industries and what we are seeing now is a levelling or righting of the market.”
“Innovation continues to thrive and millions of Australian families are engaging with games through multiple formats whether it’s on a mobile device, online subscription or in more traditional PC and console formats.”
