Tag: game industry news

Millennials may not love mobile games

| June 16, 2013

Favored demographic appears disinterested in mobile games

Millennials are one of the favored demographics of the game industry. Those born beyond 1981 technically qualify to be associated within this demographic and are considered to be the most tech-savvy generation of modern times. Because this generation grew up steeped in technology, they have a special place within the game industry, especially where mobile games are concerned. As such, developers tend to focus on this demographic a great deal when they make new mobile games. Millennials, however, are not as focused on games as the industry may think.

Report highlights the time spent on mobile games

Flurry, an analytics and market research firm focused on the mobile sector, has released a new report concerning the time that Millennials spend on their mobile devices. The report notes that a massive portion of this generation makes use of smartphones and tablets for one purpose or another. Many of these people play mobile games, but the report shows that mobile games receive the absolute least amount of a consumer’s time.

Mobile Games - MillennialsMillennials spend little of their time on gaming

According to the report, Millennials are not the primary demographic for mobile games. This generation spends significantly more time on social networking applications and other entertainment platforms than they do on gaming. Despite this, however, the majority of the game industry is devoted to marketing to this demographic in the hopes of finding some degree of success. The report shows that Millennials do devote some of their time to mobile games, but not as much as the industry may have hoped.

Popular demographic may not be as interested in games as previously thought

One of the reasons that Millennials do not spend significant amounts of time engaged in mobile games may be due to the very nature of the games themselves. Mobile games are designed to be addicting, but typically only offer small amounts of content. This content can often been experienced in a matter of hours and Millennials have notoriously shallow attention spans. Consumers often play mobile games for a short period of time before moving on to the next experience.

Mobile games see turbulence in revenue generation

| June 12, 2013

Developers looking to find ways to get people engaged in mobile games

Mobile games have become one of the most potentially lucrative sectors of the game industry, largely due to the sheer number of consumers that have mobile devices. While these games have proven quite popular with consumers, they are not a guaranteed gold mine. In order for mobile games to generate any significant amount of revenue, they must tackle a very difficult challenge involving consumer engagement. Consumers have a very short attention span when it comes to mobile applications and will move on to a new application very quickly. This has lead many developers to seek out new ways to ensure that their mobile games remain engaging.

Supply outweighs demand

The number of mobile games has increased dramatically since 2007. This means that there is no shortage of options when consumers are looking for new games to play. Because there is no shortage, consumers can easily go from game to game without having to spend any significant amount of time on a single application. While this may be good for consumers, this is somewhat problematic for developers, as low engagement times mean less revenue produced by a particular game.

Mobile Games - revenue and consumersConsumer engagement proves to be a tricky issue

Finding ways to keep consumers engaged has not been an easy task. Thus far, the mobile games that have been able to accomplish this task have been those with strong social elements, such as Draw Something and Words With Friends. Some developers have taken to developing highly addicting games with attractive features, following the example of Angry Birds. No developer has yet found an effective way to ensure that a mobile game produces a high level of revenue, however.

Finding ways to generate revenue continues to be a strong focus for the game industry

Angry Birds developer Rovio notes that 45% of its revenue comes from merchandise and mobile games themselves only account for 9% of the revenue for the entire game industry. Smaller developers do not typically have the funds needed to produce merchandise, and thus must find effective ways to enthrall the attention o consumers that have limited interest in devoting themselves to a single game or entertainment application.