Analyst report expects online revenue for PC and consoles to hit $29 billion in 2016

DFC Intelligence has released a new report which predicts worldwide revenue of online games will hit $29 billion in 2016.

The Online Game Market Forecasts report states online revenue for PC and consoles hit $15.7 billion in 2010, the doubling revenue from "subscriptions, online usage, online advertising in games and digital downloads," will come to fruition within the next five years.

The reports also states that online game revenue from PC will reach $23 billion in 2016, thanks to sites such as Facebook and the fact that "consumer acceptance of new business models such as buying digital goods," is continuing to grow at "a rapid pace."

Sales in the digital games space of subscriptions, online usage and virtual items is expected to increase 75 percent from 2010 to reach nearly $17 billion by 2016.

“Our overall forecasts for the online game industry have increased slightly," said DFC Intelligence analyst David Cole in the report. "However, we have lowered our forecasts for online games on consoles and raised our forecasts for online games via the PC.

“The Wii U is the only new console system on the horizon and Nintendo has never had a major focus on online games. More importantly the short lifecycle and fragmented nature of console hardware can make it hard for companies to try creative new business models."

Thanks, Industry Gamers.