Gamer Growth

The USA has the most gamers, but other countries are growing.

Some interesting information from a survey by Newzoo about gamers in emerging markets. Especially interesting is that two-thirds of gamer spending is online, and passing the retail market in the West for the first time. Growth is swift in emerging markets, especially when payment processing becomes easier; transactions grew over 100% in Russia and 228% in Brazil in 2010, for instance.

It's pretty clear that developing countries will be see explosive smartphone growth, as people there bypass computers and consoles to go directly to Internet-capable phones (and perhaps tablets). Gaming will grow tremendously, but the majority of the growth will be outside the traditional console/computer markets of North America and Europe. Companies and developers that want to catch the growth surge will want to get a firm grip on the smartphone market.