Parks Associates' research shows that Sony, Microsoft and Nintendo stand to reap big gains thanks to revenue streams from digital distribution, downloadable games and content, and multiplayer gaming services.
The researchers' estimates also include "avatar-based microtransactions," likely projecting based on future products like Sony's PlayStation Home and Microsoft's Xbox Live Party, although neither company has explicitly announced how they plan to monetize those online environments.
According to Parks' report, Microsoft "currently dominates" the online content and services market, but Sony and Nintendo could close the gap as their user bases increase and monetization methods diversify.
Online gaming consoles: $8 billion market in 2013
Posted on Monday, September 08 2008 @ 8:40 CEST by Thomas De Maesschalck
A new report by Parks Associates claims Internet-connected game consoles will grow into a $8 billion market for the Sony, Microsoft and Nintendo by 2013.