PC gaming market good for $13 billion by 2012

DFC estimates that the videogame market will swell to $47 billion by 2009, a 42 percent increase over the $33 billion generated by the industry in 2006. That forecast includes revenue from videogame hardware and software, dedicated portable system hardware and software (i.e. the DS and PSP - not mobile phones), PC games, and online PC and console games.

Much of the PC market's growth will come from online game revenue, including subscriptions, advertising and digital distribution, DFC said. In 2006, the PC game sector pulled in about $4.5 billion in revenue, according to past DFC reports.

While the PC plows ahead, handheld and living-room counterparts will continue to slug it out. Using three separate market forecasting models, DFC estimates that combined cumulative worldwide sales for the three console systems will reach between 180 million to 210 million units by 2012.