The world of statistics and analytics always seems to provide us with food for thought and yet again it is about what we mobile gamers are worth but not so much as an exact monetary value but instead, to advertisers, we are now considered the mass-market. This is a position that, up until now, was held by the hardcore console gamer.
It used to be the PC gamer held that title until consoles became more high tech and when that happened, the console gamer was considered the mass-market for advertisers. The tide has changed once more with some new statistics coming from Flurry that show a combined number of 250 million unique Android and iOS devices around the globe with an estimated 750,000 additional units sold daily.
In comparison, there are an estimated 180 million units sold of Xbox360s, Wiis and Playstation 3s. Android and iOS also outnumber handheld gaming sales as well with the DS and PSP bringing in 200 million units sold.
While smartphones are not dedicated gaming devices like their console brothers, except for the Xperia Play now, Flurry is also stating that 37% of all apps started on smartphones are games and that will continue to rise as more units are sold. All of these numbers are set to rise as well as console sales continue to decrease.
Other interesting fact that have come from Flurry’s research include the average mobile gamer tends to be more affluent and educated. They also tend to be of a wider range of age compared to hardcore console gamers who are usually in the 18-34 age group, the mobile gamer fits into the 18-49 age bracket. There are also more female mobile gamers then male which is another big shift from the console gaming area where generally males have dominated the player base.
Last but not least, mobile and online gaming is now set to bring in half of the total revenue of the gaming industry by 2014. That is roughly $44 billion dollars which is up from it’s currently 33% share of total revenue. This will also only continue to grow as more units are sold and console sales keep decreasing. Mobile gaming is set to have an 18% compound annual growth rate. That is a lot.
It is interesting to see how the times are changing and how everything is becoming more mobile, including gaming. We can partly thank top quality games like Pocket Legends and Dungeon Defenders on Android for showing how great gaming can be on a mobile device. We can also thank companies like nVidia for boosting technology to a point were we have dual- and quad-core chips soon to be in our mobile devices. This is also great news for indie mobile game developers as there is a higher chance of being successful with such a large player base.
Death of the console gamer? Not likely but they certainly aren’t the majority anymore and probably never will be again.
