From ecommerce perspective, game industry is probably one of the most successful ones. According to the Future Ads recent study 61% of online gamers are spending more time playing games online this year comparing to 2008. This tendency unsurprisingly has its roots in global recession. In this economic downturn all industries are looking forward to migrating to more effective, cheaper and consumer-friendly online business landscapes. Future Ads survey proves this tendency: in 2009 consumers’ spending on console games has decreased sharply while the time spent playing online games is on the remarkable rise. Game industry just like all other industries is shifting numerous of its activities to the Web and it is moving rapidly into an era of revolutionary changes.  

Gamevance survey reveals that roughly 90% of respondents believe that physical consoles will shortly become a thing of the past. This survey also shows that gamers are more likely to play from online portals and hubs (where games are easily accessible) than from numerous web-sites. Here is the chart of most popular US online games websites compiled according to Hitwise data: 

Online gaming covers all audiences, notwithstanding gender and age. More and more age groups these days are becoming involved in online gaming. However, the most targeted audiences are young audience and teens. In compliance with “Teen Advertising Study” conducted by Fuse Marketing and University of Massachusetts Amherst, roughly a half of US teens are considered heavy online users.

While console sales are down, InStat research predicts online gaming subscriptions to grow continuously. As a vast percentage of console players are online players as well, each console provider generates hundreds of millions of dollars of annual revenue from online services subscriptions, content downloads and online advertising. However, even though most popular consoles are enhanced with Internet playing capability, most users still prefer to dedicate more time to playing games offline. 

All this means that online services still have much room to grow and growth possibilities for online retailers are indeed inexhaustible.