Australian gamers to spend over $1 billion this year

Newzoo, a consumer analysis group, has released figures predicting Australian gamers will spend $US 1.2 billion dollars in 2017, making it the 14^th largest market in video games worldwide (China leads this charge with an expected spend of $US 27.5 billion).

This report also reveals that 38% of Australians own a gaming controller – this does not include mobile phones as a gaming device. Anyone who used public transport knows this figure is most certainly much higher if you count mobile gaming.

For those who game using a PC-based system, 64% are male with the largest age bracket being 21-35 year old (is that real age or dating app age?).

With the release this year of the popular Nintendo Switch, Microsoft’s announcement of their enhanced console Xbox One X, and a continual, albeit unsteady push for new technologies using virtual and augmented reality, the gaming industry worldwide is certainly on the rise.

The Victorian Government recently announced funding for several video game projects to help enable Australian developers to tap into this enormous market of 10.6 million Australian gamers alone.  This is also another sign for the Federal Government to take notice of the need to further support Australian developers.

So the next time someone rolls their eyes at you being a “gamer”, just remind them that you are amongst nearly 11 million friends.