Malaysians spent more on games than any other country in Southeast Asia this year. Gamers generated some US$589.4 million (about RM2.45 billion) over the past 10 months, with mobile gaming accounting for half of that.
Some Research firm Newzoo noted that 35% of the gaming revenue came from boxed and downloaded PC games, while console games were the smallest segment at 14%. Consultant Tom Wijman says that this difference in spending is due to PC gaming being seen as a core activity for gamers.
What is considerable is the amount of revenue generated by mobile games, which is often seen as the lesser form of gaming. In practice, it would appear that parents looking for quick entertainment for their kids have been driving the sales of such apps, and the trend does not appear to be slowing down.
Newzoo is forecasting some $51.2 billion (about RM212 billion) in revenue from games in the Asia Pacific region this year. Accounting for a 9.2% year-on-year increase. It also represents about 47% of the expect global revenue.
China is currently the country that spends the most on games, having already spent $27.5 billion. Mostly on mobile gaming, which has exploded with the introduction of easily affordable smartphones in the country. The US, as expected, spent the second most amount in the world this year.
[Source: The Malaysian Reserve]
