Despite a 13pc decline in the number of US mobile gamers in the last year, new research from comScore predicts that this market is set for growth, fuelled by increased smart-phone adoption.
The overall decline in mobile gaming in the last year was driven by a 35pc drop among non-smart-phone subscribers, who make up around 80pc of the market. By contrast, the number of gamers via smart phone increased by 60pc.
“Although the number of mobile gamers has declined in the past year, there is reason for significant optimism about the future of this market,” said Mark Donovan, comScore SVP mobile and senior analyst. “As the market transitions from feature phones to smart phones, the dynamics of game play are also shifting towards a higher quality experience. As a result, we can expect to see a profound increase in adoption of this activity, both in terms of audience size and overall engagement.”
Gaming on smart phones
According to comScore, the ascent of the mobile gaming market depends not only on smart phone subscribers’ higher propensity to play games on their mobile devices, but also their heavier gaming activity across nearly every dimension. Smart-phone subscribers (47.1pc) are three times more likely than feature phone subscribers (15.7pc) to play games on their device at least once a month. They are more than five times as likely to play games almost every day.
Smart-phone subscribers also install significantly more games on their devices with 27.3pc having installed at least one game compared to just 5.6pc of feature phone subscribers. A third of smart-phone subscribers with games have more than five games installed on their phones, while less than 1pc of feature phone subscribers have that many games installed.
“Smart phones offer a more accessible and compelling mobile gaming experience that is enabling adoption of this behaviour, even among consumers who have not traditionally been gamers,” added Donovan. “Marketers and advertisers ought to be paying close attention to the opportunity this presents for reaching consumers in new and engaging ways in a cross-platform environment. The potential for highly creative marketing efforts is exciting.”
The genre with the highest penetration among smart-phone subscribers is arcade puzzle games at 12.9pc, followed by card games (11.9pc), word/number games (11.4pc) and casino games (7.6pc).
Article courtesy of Businessandleadership.com
Photo: Smart-phone subscribers (47.1pc) are three times more likely than feature phone subscribers (15.7pc) to play games on their device at least once a month, comScore reported
