Speaking at the Casual Connect conference in Seattle, Nintendo of America’s senior director of product development, Tom Prata, revealed some of the firm’s internal market research.

In the last two-and-a-half years, some 30 million new game players have sprung up across North America, bringing the current base of players to 143.7 million, according to Prata.

He also pegged the worldwide active market size of console and handheld gamers at 295 million. This number could yet grow by 150 million “if the right game came along,” he said.

Words by N. Evan Van Zelfden