Downloadable content will fuel the growth of video game market over the next decade, say analysts

The video game industry has grown tremendously over the last ten years, but if a new report from Wedbush Morgan Securities is right then we might see the market continue to skyrocket further throughout the next decade.

Analyst Michael Pachter's article predicts that among other things, the video gaming market will
continue to grow at or above a rate of 7.2 percent over the next decade, and during that time the rate may in fact double. The catalyst for this growth spurt? Pachter says “ We envision digital downloads to account for all of the growth.”

Pachter's prediction sees the 2020 gaming market as one filled with consoles with terabyte sized hard drives. Such memory will be needed for an industry full of “download to disk” retailers, although the majority of the market will still be made of physically packaged games. He also notes that publishers will push for this future of downloadable gaming in an effort to undermine the re-sale of preplayed games.

Interestingly enough Pachter's report does not see the success of the downloadable gaming market as being influenced by mobile phone downloads. Instead the report sees mobile gaming market as a “fad” generated by the success of smart phones that can play such games, and the fact that it is becoming cheaper and cheaper to make such games.