Mobile phone gaming on the way

Forget PlayStation 2, the hot gaming platform of the future is your mobile phone, according to market analysis company Datamonitor.

The Wireless Gaming report reckons that in just five years' time 80 per cent of US and western European phone owners will be hooked on mobile internet gaming.

But we're not talking about Super Mario outings or Lara Croft adventures here: we'll be tapping at our keypads to compete in quiz games and online versions of hangman and bingo.

Datamonitor says that by 2005, an impressive, if a tad implausible, 200 million of us will help to generate revenues of $6bn by playing these online amusements.

For once, the UK and Europe will lead the way in this gaming revolution, thanks to the existence of long-established common standards among mobile phone network operators.

In the US, where the mobile phone networks are more fragmented, mobile gaming will take longer to catch on, but the market will still be worth around $2.4bn halfway through the decade.

Where's all this revenue going to come from? Sponsorship, advertising and subscription is Datamonitor's answer. Companies will cough up handsomely to get users to play their branded competitions and contests, while wealthier Wap users will pay to play the very best games.

See also:

Online gaming set for massive boom

Researcher predicts 114 million web players by 2006  10 Jun 2002

Oftel set to enforce mobile price cuts

Watchdog seeks to put price caps on mobile services.  06 Aug 2001

The golden years of gaming

The halcyon days of computer games during the 1980s saw a massive boom in sales and the making of several fortunes for young whiz-kid programmers. But every boom has to bust, and the spectacular rise and fall of Imagine tells a salutary story.  23 Jun 2001

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