Mobile gaming is huge. The ability to play games whenever you want on a device that’s always on your person has attracted millions of people to a market that was at one time propped up solely by consoles and PCs. Now the mobile market is on the verge of taking a majority stake in an industry that it’s only been a part of for less than a decade.
Digi-Capital predicts that the mobile games market will drive the games industry to $100 billion in revenue by 2017. Out of that $100 billion, it predicts 60 percent of it will be comprised of online and mobile game sales. That leaves 40 percent for dedicated gaming hardware, console software and PC.
So, what’s the biggest driver behind mobile and online gaming’s dominance? According to Digi-Capital, Asia is leading the charge with with over $20 billion in revenue last year alone. By 2017, it expects Asia to be pumping almost $40 billion into mobile and online games.
It doesn’t look like Asia will be slowing down anytime soon either with Digi-Capital pointing out that nine out of the top 10 mergers and acquisitions of 2013 had Asian buyers. It also points out that 13 of the 15 gaming IPOs of 2013 were filed by companies based in China, Japan and South Korea. With this kind of capital on its side, a lot of these companies may lead the charge in further acquisitions and mergers in the future.
Speaking of which, Digi-Capital put together a pyramid of “potential game consolidators.” What that means is that ranks companies based on their capital with the ones at the top more likely to purchase the ones at the bottom. For instance, Candy Crush Saga maker King is at the top and could be seen as a potential buyer for lesser mobile brands, like Angry Birds maker Rovio or Farmville maker Zynga.
Now, none of this is meant to imply that any one company is going to buy the other in 2014. It merely states that the companies at the top have the capital necessary to acquire companies at the bottom. That being said, it’s likely that we’ll see more mergers and acquisitions in 2014.
[h/t: Gamasutra] Image via King