With new tablets and smartphones on display at CES 2012 in Las Vegas January 10-13, there will be even more distractions for gamers who previously only played games on consoles, PCs and portable gaming devices like Nintendo 3DS and the upcoming PS Vita. MocoSpace, the largest mobile gaming community in North America, has just released the results of a new survey conducted on its network of 25 million users. The study, which looked at gaming habits on mobile, consoles and personal computers, revealed that gamers are spending more time playing games on their mobile phones, and less time playing on consoles and personal computers.
A separate study by the NPD Group found that more gamers are playing on mobile devices while at home, putting tablets and smartphones in direct competition with PlayStation 3, Wii, and Xbox 360.
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The MocoSpace study surveyed over 15,000 gamers in December 2011 to gain understanding around Americans’ gaming habits on mobile, consoles and personal computers. The survey also showed interesting trends by gender, with women over 30 emerging as highly active mobile gamers.
Not only did the study reveal gamers are drawn to the mobile platform, it also indicated they are spending more of their time on mobile than in previous years. When asked how much time they spend playing games this year compared to the year before, 46 percent of those surveyed reported they are playing more on their mobile this year. Comparatively, only 26 percent of the participants said that they are playing more on their consoles, and just 23 percent said they are playing more on their computers.
Despite the portability of a mobile device, the vast majority of mobile gaming – 47 percent – is actually done at home, according to data from the NPD Group.
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“The fact that people are gaming on their mobile phones at home, often sitting a few feet away from their controller, shows that mobile is capable of grabbing and holding their interest. This data makes it clear that mobile is a viable alternative to console and PC gaming,” said Justin Siegel, CEO of MocoSpace.
The MocoSpace report also reveals that mobile gamers are nearly as devoted to game play as console gamers; 21 percent reported that they spend at least an hour playing every day on their mobile phone, while 24 percent spend at least an hour on console gaming, on average. The high engagement levels on mobile indicate that mobile devices can carry as much allure as consoles. Also, as smartphone penetration continues to grow, options for mobile gaming will become even more user-friendly. According to Nielsen’s Mobile Media Report for the third quarter of 2011, 44 percent of all phones in use in the U.S. are now smartphones – an increase of 13 percent from the same time last year.
Of all demographics, women over age 30 consistently showed more interest in mobile gaming than any others. 27 percent of women over 30 conveyed that they spend more than three hours playing games on their mobile phones every day; this is double the percentage of men on average, as well as that of females from ages 12-29.
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