Standfast was founded to address the opportunities facing the worldwide video games market in general and the UK games industry in particular. The video games market is a truly global marketplace and is predicted to expand from $52.5Bn in 2009 to $86.8Bn in 2014, growing at 10.6% compound annual rate, (source: PwC global entertainment and media outlook 2010-2014). Enabled by the arrival of new hardware formats, both domestic and handheld, online and wireless games constitute the fastest growing end-user component of the market.
Revenues from video games derive from two sources, advertisers (including product placement) and consumers. Advertising revenues tend to be correlated to the economic cycle and are, therefore, cyclical and somewhat volatile. However, consumer revenues, the majority of which are derived from the purchase of games content, have remained in constant growth since the advent of the industry in the early 1980s. Recently, new technology (digital and mobile platforms) has become the principal driver of games’ content growth.
It is anticipated the video games software market is set for another cycle of rapid growth in consumer demand as a result of new hardware platforms and broadband enablement across TV, Internet and mobile channels. Increasing proliferation of games formats and delivery channels means that content owners now have the ability to leverage their brands further across a range of devices and channels, as well as the opportunity to generate incremental revenues. Fuelled by these drivers, device convergence and new business models for content sales, consumers are increasingly sourcing entertainment online. Consumers are also making more editorial choices about the content they consume and this, alongside a huge proliferation of user generated and community focused marketing, has, in turn, shifted consumption patterns away from traditional sales channels and towards the online market places that now exist around all games devices.
These developments now make it possible for the Company to provide investors with access to market returns through the construction of a diversified portfolio of video games projects.
If you are looking for investment opportunities related to the global or UK games industries, please contact Morgan O’Rahilly or Enda Carey.
