No matter how you look at the numbers, one thing is clear about the video game industry: “Big” is an apt description for the industry. In honor of our fourth annual GamesBeat conference starting on Tuesday, we’ve dug out an interesting set of facts and numbers about gaming. We hope that some of these make you go “Wow!” Enjoy.
Mobile gamers now likely outnumber PC players in China (192 million vs. 180 million projected by the end of this year). [Niko Partners]
GamesBeat 2012 has 81 speakers, moderators, and judges.
35 companies applied for our “Who’s Got Game?” contest for the best game startup.
Number of minutes played in Zynga’s games over the last three years: 1.8 trillion. [Zynga]
Apple takes down 5,000 apps a month. [Xyologic]
GamesBeat numbers show 145 companies raised $1.5 billion in 2011.
Free-to-play reality: More than 80 percent of revenue comes from less than 10 percent of users. [Digi-Capital]
Games as a percentage of all apps in the top-25 ranks in the U.S. Apple App Store in May 2012: 88 percent. [Flurry]
World of Warcraft paying subscribers in Q1, 2012: 10.2 million.
The average game industry acquisition was $30 million in 2011. [Digi-Capital]
Percentage of surveyed adults who played at least one mobile game in the last month: 44 percent. [PopCap]
Year-to-date sales drop for U.S. physical retail games: 25 percent. [NPD]
Electronic Entertainment Expo 2012 data: 370,000 square feet of exhibit space, 200 exhibitors, and 45,000 attendees. [ESA]
Microsoft stats: 67 million Xbox 360 consoles sold since 2005, 19 million Kinects sold since 2010, and $56 billion in revenue generated from its game business. [Microsoft]
Games are expected to grow from $52 billion in revenue in 2011 to $70 billion in 2017. [DFC Intelligence]
The average investment in a game startup is $7 million. [Digi-Capital]
Social games generate $1 per user per month. Real-money online gambling generates $300 per month. [Betable]
Expected price of the Wii U: $299. Sales expectations: 10 million to 15 million in the first year. [DFC Intelligence]
Social games are a $7.3 billion business. Online gambling generates $32 billion in revenue per year. Casinos report revenues of $426 billion. [Betable]
Grand Theft Auto V’s expected sales: $700 million. [Michael Pachter, Wedbush Securities]
Amount of advertising money spent by Sony on PlayStation Vita’s launch in the U.S.: $50 million. Amount spent by Gree on its platform launch in the U.S.: $50 million.
Number of tanks obliterated by 30 million gamers in World of Tanks: 1.3 billion.
Percentage of indie-game sessions played on iOS and Android in the first quarter of 2012: 68 percent.
Percentage of Zynga’s revenue that comes from advertising: 8.7 percent.
Price Sony paid for cloud gaming startup Gaikai: $380 million.
Price Zynga paid for OMGPOP: $183 million plus bonus.
Price Nexon paid for 14 percent of NCSoft: $688 million.
EA’s packaged games published in fiscal year 2009: 67.
Games EA’s branded online game service published in fiscal year 2012: 25.
Zynga’s monthly active users: 244.0 million. [AppData]
Our vote for the best game of E3 2012: The Last of Us (developer Naughty Dog’s upcoming exclusive for PlayStation 3)
World’s most popular social game: Zynga Poker, with 33.5 million monthly active users. [AppData]
Gamers spent $3.4 billion on all types of games in the first quarter of 2012 in the U.S. About $1.5 billion was spent on physical retail games, and $1.38 billion was spent on digitally distributed games. Gamers spent $525 million on used and rental games.
Active gamers in Turkey: 21.8 million.
EA’s revenue for fiscal year ended March 31, 2012: $4.143 billion.
EA’s digital revenue for fiscal year ended March 31, 2012: $1.159 billion.
Number of new games submitted to Apple App Store per day: 62. [148apps.biz]
Number of active games on the Apple App Store: 119,408. [148apps.biz]
Number of active apps on the Apple App Store: 679,348. [148apps.biz]
The most popular category for game investments: mobile games. [Digi-Capital]
Number of chips Zynga Poker pays out in a day: 16 trillion.
Hours played by Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 3 players: 1.6 billion.
Market value for key game companies:
Tencent Holdings $55.6 billion
Facebook $57.7 billion
Activision Blizzard $13.3 billion
Zynga $3.95 billion
Electronic Arts $3.8 billion
THQ $35.7 million
GamesBeat 2012 is VentureBeat’s fourth annual conference on disruption in the video game market. This year we’re calling on speakers from the hottest mobile, social, PC, and console companies to debate new ways to stay on pace with changing consumer tastes and platforms. Join 500+ execs, investors, analysts, entrepreneurs, and press as we explore the gaming industry’s latest trends and newest monetization opportunities. The event takes place July 10-11 in San Francisco, and you can get your tickets here.