New report estimates number of gamers worldwide will top 1.2 billion this year.

A new market study released today predicts game revenues will grow to $70.4 billion worldwide this year, representing a 6% year-on-year increase. According to the Newzoo 2013 Global Games Market Report, the number of gamers is expected to surpass 1.2 billion by the end of the year. Regional growth in game spending is highest in Latin America and the Asia-Pacific region at 11% year-over-year. North America and Europe will show very modest growth. The market for smartphone and tablet games will grow 35% to $12.3 billion, outpacing any other game market segment. In terms of game spending per screen, the PC grosses the largest share with 39% or $27.6 billion.

Game market by regions

Newzoo says the Asia-Pacific market will reach $25.1 billion this year, making it the biggest games market in the world. Despite a year-on-year increase of 11%, Latin America remains a relatively small market with revenues of $3.0 billion. The North American market will total $22.8 billion (+2% y-o-y) followed by EMEA with $19.5 billion (+4% y-o-y) .

Game market by segments

Newzoo says consoles remain the highest revenue generating platform, with $30.6 billion (-1%  y-o-y) equal to 43% of global games revenues. This includes all DLC spend and business-to-consumer second-hand trade. Traditional PC gaming (downloads and boxed) contracts slightly to $6.0 billion (-7% y-o-y), but this is offset by 14% year-on-year growth for MMO games, totaling $14.9 billion. Game revenues generated by tablet and smartphones will gross 18% of the global games market, surpassing $12 billion, which is roughly double the amount spent on games for handheld consoles.

Game market by screens

Newzoo also is forecasting the game market using a screen segmentation model. When plotting the 2013 revenue estimates in this model, the largest screen is the Computer Screen,  encompassing boxed or downloaded, casual, social and MMO games. The Computer Screen segment generating 39% of all revenues compared to 36% for the TV or Entertainment Screen. The Personal Screen or mobile phone will show global growth of 22% y-o-y and accounts for 12% of global games market revenues. Within the category of Floating Screens, the shift from handheld consoles to tablets is illustrated by the anticipated 78% growth for tablets and 21% decline in spending on handheld console games. Over time, global revenues are expected to grow towards a more equal divide across the four typical screens.

Newzoo says its market size estimates exclude consumer-to-consumer second-hand trade and sales taxes. Excluded are also hardware sales, business-to-business services and online gambling and betting revenues from regulated betting and gambling companies.