Tag: mobile gamers

A new report reveals that women play and spend more on mobile games than men.

A recent report from mobile advertising, analytics and monetization firm, Flurry, reveals that the mobile gaming scene is not dominated by the male mobile user population, as many would suspect due to the fact that males generally drive game revenue, but is actually a digital playground that is currently being conquered by female mobile consumers.

Women make over 30% more in-app game purchases than men.

Based on the data found in its report, Flurry discovered that based on a selection of mobile games that were available to 1.1 million devices on its platform, compared to men, women made 31% more in-app purchases. In addition, the study learned that women spend 35% more time engaged in gaming on their mobile devices and, on average, have a 42% greater retention over one week than their male counterparts.

Flurry commented that the “fact that females also outspend males in in-app purchases came as a surprise to us.” The mobile ad firm also noted that while its data was measured on a global basis, the numbers did not differ greatly when it came to the individual analysis of the US audience.

In general, certain types of mobile gaming appear to appeal to one gender over the other.

In its report, Flurry also analyzed 19 different iOS game categories and the amount of time mobile gamers spend in them. What was found was that, on the whole, men continue to spend more time playing games that fall into the strategy, sports, tower defense, action/RPG and card/battle game categories, compared to women.

That being said, what encouraged Flurry to conduct its report to find out precisely how in-app purchases are being influenced by a growing mobile gaming user base, is the success that game developer Glu Mobile is experiencing after the release of its “Kim Kardashian: Hollywood” game. According to a report from the New York Times, Glu Mobile has generated over $1 million in revenue just from the first five days after the game was released. Due to the fact that the game is free to play, money is coming from user’s making in-app purchases. One analyst even told the paper that on an annual basis, the game has the potential to produce $200 million in revenue.

20% of American gamers would rather forgo sex than mobile games for a week.

Part II of the Mobile Gaming Chronicles survey from the mobile social gaming network PlayPhone, revealed the main spending habit and behavior trends of American mobile gamers and, among other surprising discoveries, the survey found that if they had to make a choice, one in five respondents would rather go without sex than mobile games for a week.

The group surveyed consisted of 1,000 Americans who play games on tablets and smartphones.

According to the survey, 37% of all American respondents said they would be willing to pay $5 or more a month for a gaming subscription that would offer them a “complete gaming experience”, which would include full access to games, levels and items in the game. This is a much smaller percentage compared to the 57% of Latinos who said they would pay for a subscription. However, in terms of gender, there was not as big of a gap. 54% of men vs. 46% of women said they would pay a subscription fee.

In regard to age group, it was found that gamers aged 25 to 29 were more likely to pay for mobile games than any other age group, with 49% in this age range claiming they would spend 5 or more dollars for a monthly subscription. As for those survey respondents who were self-proclaimed mobile gamers, 53% said they were likely to spend.

“Just as we seek to reveal emerging trends in mobile gaming monetization, we feel it’s essential to investigate behaviors that define heavy spenders,” PlayPhone CMO Anders Evju said. “It furthers our goals of maximizing value for our game developer and operator partners and enables us to continue to deliver an optimal social gaming experience,” Evju added.

Some people even confessed they’ve engaged in mobile gaming while behind the wheel.

In addition to investigating the spending habits of smartphone and tablet game players, the PlayPhone survey focused on other trends among gamers. For instance, they found that a surprising 17% of survey respondents admitted to playing mobile games while driving, on a frequent or occasional basis.

It was also discovered that 49% of all survey responders admitted to engaging in mobile gaming at work, while 68% said they sacrificed sleep regularly or on occasion on non-work nights to complete a game and 58% confessed they did this on work nights, too.