Reaching nearly $1.9 billion in 2005, the market for online and mobile gaming in the U.S. grew 288% since 2002. In this report, Mintel clearly identifies the principal external factors driving or curtailing growth in online and mobile gaming. Online gaming has become a regular part of the leisure mix for adults, teens, and kids. Casual game categories--puzzles and strategy, card and board, and classic arcade games--are popular in the web-browser/downloadable games and mobile segments of the market. Women, who favor these games, represent a larger portion of online gamers than do women in the traditional video console market.

Reaching nearly $1.9 billion in 2005, the market for online and mobile gaming in the U.S. grew 288% since 2002. In this report, Mintel clearly identifies the principal external factors driving or curtailing growth in online and mobile gaming. Online gaming has become a regular part of the leisure mix for adults, teens, and kids. Casual game categories--puzzles and strategy, card and board, and classic arcade games--are popular in the web-browser/downloadable games and mobile segments of the market. Women, who favor these games, represent a larger portion of online gamers than do women in the traditional video console market.

Mintel’s exclusive consumer research reveals the attitudes, needs and behavior of online and mobile gaming consumers, with analysis broken down both by demographic characteristics, and by gaming type. Six years of specific sales data provide a factual and impartial presentation of the market as a whole. Mintel also evaluates the performance of individual sectors in the market and provides information about the major companies and brands.

Mintel uses the SPSS forecasting package to create a five-year forecast of U.S. retail sales in online and mobile gaming, revealing potential opportunities for growth and product development. Based on Mintel research, overall growth in the market should remain strong, resulting from four factors:

1. increasing penetration rates for broadband Internet and 3G wireless phone networks
2. a greater proportion of the population has grown up gaming and will continue to play as they age
3. increased awareness of mobile gaming and online gaming capabilities as a result of new entries into these markets from established game companies with licensed titles and larger marketing budgets
4. in-game advertising is becoming a desirable choice for major marketers.

For the purposes of this report, online gaming is defined as all revenue streams associated with games that are played on a personal computer either online (e.g. via a web browser) or gaming software downloaded and played on the personal computer.