There’s no question that the mobile game scene has exploded in popularity in the last few years, with both premium and free-to-play games making millions of dollars across the board. According to Newzoo, this could be the year that global sales from mobile games finally overtake those from console video games.

An article over at Fortune indicates that Newzoo recently raised its 2014 global revenue forecast from $21.7 billion to $25 billion, with the new total equating to a 43 percent increase over mobile game revenues recorded for the previous year.

With mobile gaming growing past a particular market, Peter Warman, chief executive for Newzoo, believes there’s plenty of room for revenue to grow. For 2014, the North American mobile market has boomed to a whopping 51 percent year over year, while Western Europe was close behind with a 47 percent increase. Perhaps the largest growing market, however, was in Southeast Asia and China, where numbers have grown a significant 86 percent.

“Despite a widely reported slump in new tablet unit sales, game revenues on tablets are growing faster than smartphones, cementing the position of tablets as a key gaming device,” said Warman. “Smartphones and tablets have given gamers two new screens to play games on in addition to their TV and PC screen.

“Because U.S. consumers use all four screens, mobile gaming does not replace console or PC gaming. Moreover, it gives gamers the possibility to play games anywhere at any time, pushing overall time spent on games in the U.S. up 40 percent in only two years.”

With that, mobile gaming will easily overtake console gaming growth, where despite strong console sales by Microsoft and Sony, the sales of console game software is still showing mild growth at best.

“Initially, online casual and social network games suffered revenue losses because of mobile games growth,” said Warman. “This year, for the first time, we see signs that it is taking its toll on the global growth of PC and console gaming.

Newzoo predicts that mobile games will generate $30.3 billion worldwide, compared to console games making $26.4 billion. That means both markets are still quite a big deal, but there appears to be a new leader in town if these estimates hold up.

North America will still see dominance on the console front, with $24.05 billion in overall game revenue, with mobile holding $7.2 billion and consoles performing with $11.1 billion. In other markets, however, things will certainly change – especially in Asia and China.

“Playing games on the TV or PC will not disappear,” said Vincent van Deesen, market analyst for Newzoo. “They are different screens, each with their own right of existence. What we see happening now is that money spent on games is gradually being spent more equally across all four screens.

“Ultimately, this could be 25 percent for TV, 25 percent for PC, 25 percent for tablets and handhelds, and 25 percent for phones. In the U.S., the percentages are 44 percent, 26 percent, 15 percent and 15 percent respectively. On a global scale, the split is closer to the theoretical situation: 28 percent, 39 percent, 13 percent and 20 percent. Time spent on games have already shown a close-to-equal split across screens for years,” he explained.

More details on the report can be found here.