‘Games audience will hit 2.5bn by 2011’

In the opening talk kicking off this week’s Edinburgh Interactive Festival, former Sony CEO Chris Deering offered a glimpse into the immediate future of the games market, predicting a global market of 2.5bn potential gamers by 2011.

Traditional games platforms like DS, Wii and PS3 will hit a total installed base of 500m by 2011, Deering predicted – citing sources like Screen Digest and other industry sources – with alternative mobile platforms and gaming PCs accounting for a billion users each.

Of that games market, his predictions said the DS market will have ballooned to 150m users, with the Wii at 80m, PS3 at 70m and 360 or its successor at 40m and PSP (and/or its successors) at 70m. PS2 still played a part with 90m active users still in 2011.

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