The survey, prepared for PopCap, says that there are over 125 million people playing mobile games in the UK and US, and the time spent playing on these devices outweighs that of traditional consoles by some margin.
46% of all time spent playing videogames is on a mobile device.
The biggest share is phones (at 33%) and consoles were down at just 18%, showing that the market has moved significantly over the last few years.
“Mobile games continue to vie with social games as the hottest sector of the video game industry and that trend shows no sign of waning,” stated Dennis Ryan, VP of Worldwide Publishing at PopCap.
“Smartphone adoption continues apace and tablet adoption has added considerable fuel to the fire.”
36% of mobile gamers now own a tablet device like Apple’s iPad, and 74% of those didn’t play mobile games before getting one.
bigbaldwolf
I hate these surveys. You can survey any particular section of people to get the results you want. The people surveyed could have been mostly casual gamers so of course it would show this. Gamers and I mean actual gamers will use consoles and handhelds. I can’t take a survey from a social gaming company seriously.
JesseDeya
Actually there is nothing wrong with the survey, but this article on the other hand. Sigh.
“SURVEY SAYS GAMERS PLAY ON MOBILE MORE THAN CONSOLES”
No. Bad TSA. Bad Gi.biz. VERY NAUGHTY.
Behold the survey’s actual primary research objective…
“Determine the percentage of mobile phone and tablet owners who play mobile
games and the growth of mobile gaming over the past year.”
‘Consoles’ are only included in a solitary statistic that offers NO qualifying information allowing a conclusion (such as the headline of this article) to be drawn.
Important facts:
– 100% of the survey participants own a mobile device.
– It is NOT stated how many survey participants own or have access to a console
– The term ‘gamer’ is not used within the survey without reference to the word ‘mobile’.
– The survey ONLY refers to ‘mobile gamers’ and defines them as “someone who has played a game on his/her phone and/or tablet in the past month.”
The only (somewhat vague) conclusion that can be determined from the presented data is that within the mobile gamers surveyed (a mandatory criteria for survey participation), the average time spent playing on consoles is 19%. What isn’t disclosed however, is what percentage actually own or have access to a console, and of those dual ‘console’ and ‘mobile’ gamers what percentage is spent on each.
Gi.biz chose to sensationalise their article by referring to the survey participants as ‘ gamers’ (when they were explicitly selected as ‘mobile gamers’) and TSA blindly followed the Gi.biz lead.
Gi.biz open their article by saying “In fact, almost half (46 percent) of all video game time is spent on a mobile device, the survey indicated.”. This is a completely fabrication. I’ve poored over the survey and there is NOTHING to back that up.
Are there more people playing mobile games (albeit casually) than console games? Yeah probably – but this survey doesn’t prove that, nor does it even attempt to!
Furthermore, show me the evidence that mobile gaming is having a negative effect on console hardware and software sales. I could just as easily hypothesis that the economy is the root cause of any downturn in the console industry and in actuality mobile gaming has been working to stimulate interest in gaming in general and is perhaps helping keep console gaming somewhat healthy.
I’m just spit balling of course, but given how irrelevant this survey is to the suggested headline I can’t possibly do any worse.
TSA, I implore you as a massive fan – read the survey (properly) and write a retraction to this highly misleading article.
a inferior race
If JesseDaye is correct you would need to retract this story, especially after the Futurlab article.
philzy85
People play mobile games because they cant have their PS3 in work during lunch break, that is the only reason mobile gaming is higher than consoles
Youles
Our survey says “Eh, errrr”.
This is only because my PS3 doesn’t have 49p games and is carried in my pocket all day. Silly and obvious statement.
Taylor Made
Silly survey stop asking baby mothers about gaming obviously they play angry birds while little one cleaning
I’m about play gravity rush thought I would say lol
Taylor Made
Sleeping lol not cleaning dam u iPhone & auto correct
bmg_123
The iPhone is changing gaming AND spelling!
Awayze
I thought it was rather odd a baby cleaning the house whilst the mother sits on the sofa playing Angry Birds lol.
Ed the Penguin
That’s how it should be done.
The Lone Steven
Seeing as there is no evidence to how many people they asked and if they were gamers or not, I’m going to ignore this survey. Again, why not ask major gaming sites when you do surveys about gaming? They have a variety of gamers and would probably be more reliable.
Also, I did a survey and it turns out that 100% of PS3 gamers have played the PS3 at some point in time.
Alex C
Can we read the survey before assuming it’s a waste of time? There’s a link at the bottom.
They didn’t survey ‘casual gamers’, they surveyed those that:
Live in the United States or United Kingdom.
Own a mobile phone and/or or tablet.
Played games on a mobile phone and/or tablet within the past month.
bigbaldwolf
Exactly. They surveyed people who game on phones
Taylor Made
And lie in Cornwall
hazelam
they may also have told the truth in Cornwall. ^_^
Youles
Of course they/we play games on phones more, we carry then around with us. It didn’t even really require a survey.
Sadly this probably means smaller developers will aim for this market and not main consoles due to the huge costs, however in my opinion it’s a totally different market and not comparable.
Youles
It might be interesting if they surveyed console gamers to see how often they play mobile games at home, when they could be playing a Vita/PS3/Xbox. My time would be zero.
jimmy-google
So people that play games on a mobile phone/tablet play more on them than consoles; alwyas likely to get that when you don’t survey those that don’t play on a phone/tablet. How about they survey anyone that’s played a game in the last month and see what results they get.
You can prove just about anything with stats if you ask the right questions and sample the right group.
There always seems to be loads of surveys about but I’ve never seen any of them until after the results are out.
TSBonyman
It looks like they only surveyed mobile gamers specifically, but that some of those mobile gamers also owned consoles. Hardly a definitive survey imo.
Now if they had said more mobile gamers play on their mobiles than on their consoles it would have sounded more accurate to me.
Of course, statistically, there’s a good chance i’m wrong. ;)
mrfodder
My wife almost falls into that category except we live in Ireland. Her total lifetime spend on game (excluding those for her game addict husband) is €0. Seems like the market to got for.
jimmy-google
If they’d looked at how much they’d spent on games for each device that might have been more interesting.
My wife plays a lot on her phone (and now and again on her PSP and my PS3) but has never spent a single penny on games for her phone. On the other hand she has spent probably over £100 combined for the PSP and PS3.
Amphlett
You’ve put your finger on the point there Alex. They targeted people who own a phone and/or tablet upon which they play games. Within this group they have asked how many own and play on a games console, so the headline that ‘gamers play on mobile more than console’ is perhaps not representative of the whole of the digital games playing arena. For example –
If I go to Leeds and survey all the people who go to watch football on a weekly/fortnightly basis then the survey is very likely to show that Leeds is a more popular football club than Torquay United.
Tuffcub
But NOT “have access to a games console” – so 72% of the respondants may not even own a console which makes the makes the Console vs Mobile percentages utterly useless.
TSBonyman
Someone should do a survey on the inaccuracy of surveys!
IAmJacksMedullaOblongata
Our survey shows 139% of all surveys are pointless.
Tuffcub
Apart from Massive Polls.
The Lone Steven
But then someone would have to do a survey of a survey of the inaccuracy of surveys then someone would do a survey of that survey, it would result in a never ending cycle!
OneShotWook
I always miss out on these surveys,damn shame as i do try to be 100% honest when stopped by a stranger in the street bearing free pens.
Bilbo_bobbins
I ignore most people in a rain jacket with a logo on, or with a clipboard, because they are either 1. after your money for some reason or 2. asking stupid questions for a survey that waste my time.
Ruddy chuggers get on nerves.
Taylor Made
Excuse can I have your time please, I’m doing a survey on how annoying we are out of 10 rate us, excuse me, don’t you dare walk away don’t u dare!
Bilbo_bobbins
I had one woman tell me that i want children to be abused because I wouldn’t talk to her (chugger)….lets just say I told her where to go
Bilbo_bobbins
Of course those on mobile/tablets are going to play games more often, because you can carry it around with you?
Its like asking a motorist if they use a car that they bought for driving.
Dom El
So the people that they interviewed didn’t necessarily even own a console?
We live in an age where virtually everyone has a mobile phone, and more and more people are buying tablets instead of laptops, so its safe to assume that whilst they may well be playing games on these devices, they aren’t necessarily replacing gaming on a traditional device. The likelihood being that they would never have played games before, and are now simply playing them due to ease of access. If anything, it may prompt more people to try out devices like the PS3, 360 and Vita.
XisTG
Next: PS3 and Xbox owners are asked if they play on home consoles. Stay tunned for the results!
wirralsman
Can’t wait. Keep us posted