Microsoft Corporation and Sony Corp (ADR) are expected to release new hardware upgrades for their gaming consoles in the coming days. The upcoming PlayStation 4 and Xbox One upgrades will enable streaming from video game systems to PCs and mobile devices. These changes are important steps by the companies “to keep up with industry changes”. The gaming consoles are facing tough competition from mobile and set-top sources.
The new hardware upgrade will allow Sony to extend the lifecycle of its gaming console, as well as better position it for integration with virtual reality, 4K displays, and other new technologies, according to The Motley Fool. Microsoft is seems to be moving its gaming strategy away from console hardware. With upgraded Xbox One hardware, the company might get a chance to further strengthen Windows as a gaming platform.
Mobile Gaming Revenue To Grow From $29B in 2015 To $45B by 2018
It is expected that mobile gaming will overtake console and PC revenues this year. Mobile games, with $25 billion in worldwide revenues last year, is the largest games platform by market share in the world, according to Super Data Research.
Digi-Capital forecasts that games software revenue will grow from $88 billion in 2015 to $110 billion by 2018 at 8% annual growth. Mobile games will generate more revenue than online games in 2015, as well as more revenue than console software. Where mobile games will take $3 of every $10 spent by gamers on software in 2015, that figure will go up to $4 out of every $10 by 2018, according Digi-Capital.
In addition, Digi-Capital estimates that mobile games revenue will grow from $29 billion in 2015 to $45 billion by 2018 at 15% annual growth. Asia, which has dominated mobile games revenue since 2013, compared to both North America and Europe, is forecasted to take over 50% of all mobile games revenue in 2018.
New Games For Xbox One, PlayStation
Gran Turismo Sport is going to be released in the U.S. and Japan on November 15th. The racing video game, developed by Polyphony Digital, is the first Gran Turismo title made for the PlayStation 4 and first overall since 2013’s Gran Turismo 6. The video game will also be compatible with Sony’s PlayStation VR headset upon its launch this October, reported The Verge.
Another video game, the Soul Axiom game, developed by Wales Interactive, will be released next month for both Microsoft Corporation ‘s Xbox One and PlayStation. The official release date is June 7, according to Gameranx.com.
The highly-anticipated Overwatch game will be officially launched on May 24th by the video game developer Blizzard. The game develop said that Overwatch will be launched in all gameplay regions across all platforms at the same time globally which is sure to keep everyone happy, reported Geeky-Gadgets.com.
Developed by EA Sports, FIFA is a very popular video game. A new patch for FIFA 16 has been released on Playstation 4, Xbox One and PC. The game development said that it fixed a few bugs in Pro Clubs that players had been reporting in the past, according to Gearnuke.com.