Report shows that UK consumers are flocking to mobile games
Leading market research firm comScore has released a new report concerning mobile games and their popularity among consumers in the United Kingdom. The report shows that the number of people that play mobile games on a daily basis has almost doubled since January 2011. Mobile games are becoming quite popular among consumers as the ownership of smartphones and tablets grows and many people are playing these games while commuting or while waiting in lines or for appointments.
Majority of gamers play from home
The report shows that gaming is quickly becoming the most popular pastime among UK consumers with smartphones. While the portability of mobile games has been an attractive feature to many consumers, the report shows that 64% of consumers play these games from their homes, with only 33% of consumers play mobile games while commuting. Not only are mobile games establishing a strong presence among consumers, people have shown a strong interest in spending money on these games.
In-game purchases are growing
The comScore report shows that 2.2 million consumers have made in-game purchases. The majority of these purchases came from iOS devices, with 28% of purchases coming from Android devices. Free mobile games are the most popular among consumers, but these games typically include in-game purchases that can unlock additional content or make the game somewhat easier to play.
Consumers becoming more comfortable with spending money on mobile games
While free mobile games are currently very popular among consumers, this may not be the case in the future. Collectively, UK consumers have spent more than $400 million on mobile games. This amount is expected to increase over the coming years. This may be due to a prevailing concept among consumers that free games are lower quality than those that are associated with a fee. More consumers are showing willingness to play for mobile games
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.
Consumer 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.
