Pachter: Industry will grow 6.2% per year through 2013

Micahel Pachter has prediced that software revenues in the United States and Europe will grow approximately 6.2 percent per year through 2013.

Pachter feels that unit sales for consoles, handhelds, and personal computers will grow over 8 percent during the time frame compared to falling 12 percent during 2008.

By 2011, Pachter's report shows that software revenue will have reached $22.3 billion by 2013 and by the end of the year reach $25 billion. In 2012 the market will recover from 2009 losses and grow to $24.0 billion. In the final year covered in the report, software revenue is expected to have exceeded $25 billion.

PC software revenue is expected to fluctuate, with handheld software to decline each year from 2010 to 2013 with a 32 percent growth in console software revenues over the next four years.

According to the report, Wii is expected to be the annual sales leader, again, for the next four years with PS3 outselling Xbox 360 during 2010 and each year after that. PS3 sales for 2013 are expected to be at the level of Wii hardware sales in the United States, with both systems moving over 5 million units that year.

Xbox 360 hardware sales are to remain level throughout the period with PS3 excpected to surpass the console by a few million, with Wii surpassing the installed hardware base PS2 sometime in 2012 with over 48 million consoles in the US and reaching 53 million by 2013.

The Wedbush report shows that in Europe, annual sales for 2012 for Wii and PS3 will be very close with Sony outselling Nintendo in 2013 by 300,000 units.

Earlier this month, a Strategy Analytics report stated that global software revenues are expected to grow from $46.5 billion in 2009 to $64.9 billion by the end of 2013 - so it looks like 2013 will be a banner year for the industry - according to analysts anyway.

Via Gamasutra.