Netzoo's 2014 Global Games Market Report - Developed World idle time Opportunity for Jamaicans in Video Gaming Design

“The market has become a truly global playground, and the lion’s share of market growth can be found outside of mature markets”

Newzoo CEO Peter Warman commenting on his company's recently released Interactive Data Resource highlighting the top regions and countries for Gaming revenues in 2014

Video Gaming is hot, especially in the Asian Markets. Amazon’s capitalizing on it with their Amazon Fire TV device, which also doubles as a Gaming Console for their Android Games as explained in my blog article entitled “Amazon launches Amazon Fire TV Set Top and Gaming Console - Amazon Prime Delight challenges Apple iTV, enflames Cord-Cutter's Nirvana portending Console Gaming Renaissance”.

So says the latest stats from Newzoo’s Live Interactive Data Resource highlighting the top regions and countries for Gaming revenues in 2014 as stated in “Gamer globe: The top 100 countries by 2014 game revenue”, published June 24, 2014 8:01 AM by John Koetsier, Venturebeat.

Newzoo also recently released a 2014 Global Games Market Report, a sort of

Newzoo’s Live Interactive Data Resource, which is also available as an excel spreadsheet so that you can make your own comparisons, says what we’ve all come to know: Gaming is Big Business.

As it’s a Live Interactive Data Resource, similar to NetMarketShare as it relates to Windows 8 and Internet Explorer stats that I used in my blog article entitled “NetMarketShare Second Quarter Stats show Windows XP Growing Strong while Google Chrome in No. 2 Spot - Windows 7 Upgrade Windfall for Computer Repair Technicians”.

Video Gaming By the Numbers – Developed World has a lot of idle time on their hands

This makes for some interesting stats that help to put Video Gaming into perspective and explains why most companies, including Apple, are so interested in gaining access to China's Gaming Market as reported in my blog article entitled “China allows Console Makers to manufacture Video Game Consoles in Shanghai Free Zone - Social Mobile Cloud Gaming Revival with Legit Chinese Customers and defense against Apple and Google”:

1.      7.2 billion people on the Earth

2.      2.97 billion of the people on the Earth have Web access

3.      1.8 billion of those people with Web access play Video Games, 

4.      $82 billion spent in 2014 on Video Games, both Online, Console and App based

When the stats are broken down by country, a clear leader when it comes to spending on Video Games emerges at the top of the list: The United States of America.

The List of 100 makes for interesting reading, but here's a sample of the Top 20:

1.      U.S.A.: $20.5 billion

2.      China: $17.9 billion

3.      Japan: $12.2 billion

4.      Germany: $3.43 billion

5.      U.K.: $3.43 billion

6.      Korea: $3.36 billion

7.      France: $2.6 billion

8.      Canada: $1.7 billion

9.      Italy: $1.5 billion

10.  Spain: $1.49 billion

11.  Brazil: $1.34 billion

12.  Russian Federation: $1.14 billion

13.  Australia: $1.14 billion

14.  Mexico: $1 billion

15.  Taiwan: $643 million

16.  India: $583 million

17.  Netherlands: $433 million

18.  Turkey: $375 million

19.  Sweden: $370 million

20.  Switzerland: $326 million

But when it comes to Average Spend on Video Games determined by dividing the online revenue by the number of online gamers, it appears that the Japanese are the most spendthrift.

The Top 10 reveals this quite clearly:

1.      Japan: $120/person

2.      Korea: $79/person

3.      U.S.A.: $74/person

4.      U.K.: $62/person

5.      Australia: $55/person

6.      Canada: $54/person

7.      Germany: $50/person

8.      Switzerland: $47/person

9.      France: $46.38/person

10.  Ireland: $46/person

Console Gaming’s Challenge – Opportunity for Jamaicans to make Money from Video Gaming

I'm skeptical the numbers gleaned from Newzoo’s Live Interactive Data Resource will change much over time. Clearly new Video Gaming Technologies are on the horizon. Interaxion debut US$199 Muse Mind Controller and even Mind Controller interfaces that can induce Lucid Dreaming and possibly Gaming in the Unconscious State as predicted in my blog article entitled “Frankfurt University's Dr Ursula Voss Electric Shocks Lucid Dreaming - How Gamma Waves lead to Conscious Dreaming Inception in Katy Perry Wide Awake Matrix”.

But what would be of interest to me is where the most money is being spent, that being either on:

1.      Consoles Gaming

2.      Online Gaming

3.      App Gaming

My prediction has long been that Console Gaming is dying, being slowly taken over by Tablets and smartphones such as the Apple iPhone and the Apple iPad Mini, effectively App Gaming as argued in my Geezam blog article entitled “Apple iPad Air’s the World Thinnest Tablet and Apple iPad Mini 2’s a 3DS and Vita killer”.

Heck, there’s even a US$100 Moga Ace Power Gamepad and the Logitech PowerShell Controller that can turn your Apple iPhone into a PSP as described in my blog article entitled “US$100 Moga Ace Power Gamepad and the Logitech PowerShell Controller + Battery - Post – Portable Gaming Era has finally Begun as Apple marches towards Gaming Console in 2014”.

However, if Google, Apple and Amazon can port Apps to Consoles and also negotiate deals with makes of Console Games to port those games to Apps, then the Console Gaming World will see increased engagement in the Developing World, where buying Consoles is expensive.

Even better too is making IPTV Streaming Set Top Boxes that also double as Video Game Consoles in the Living Room as argued in my blog article entitled “Apple to launch TV and a Cloud Gaming Console in 2014 - How the Apple iTV and Television Set can kill The Grandmaster in the guise of Nintendo, Sony and Microsoft”.

So Newzoo’s Live Interactive Data Resource is a snapshot of the current state of the Gaming World. Most importantly, it should provide encouragement to Jamaicans who are interested in Video Game Development as explained in my blog article entitled “Animation after KingstOOn - How to make a Video Game for PC”, Smartphone and Tablet and weren’t sure if was financially viable. Trust me, the Stats don’t lie….as it’s just as lucrative as Animation.