Tag: smartphone games

Mobile games take up majority of consumers’ time

| March 14, 2013

Mobile Games TimeMobile games account for massive time sink for most consumers

Mobile games a very popular with a consumers all over the world, but a new study shows that these consumers are spending a large portion of their time on these simple application. The study comes from Flurry Analytics and shows that the majority of mobile consumers spend their time either engaged in mobile games or social networking. Mobile games are, however, the most popular way for these consumers to spend their time, eclipsing social networking.

Study shows that people spend a lot of their time on gaming

The study from Flurry Analytics shows that 43% of consumers spend their time on mobile games, while 26% of consumers make use of social networking applications. News and productivity applications account for only 2% of the time that consumers spend on their mobile device. Mobile games are exceedingly popular among iOS users, where these game applications tend to be less expensive than those found on the Android platform. While many games for both the iOS and Android platforms can be obtained for free, the study shows that consumers appear to favor the former over the latter.

Reports highlights the prevalence of mobile games

Flurry Analytics’ study corroborates data found from a similar study conducted by Arbitron last month. The Arbitron study showed the smartphone users spend an average of 594 minutes on mobile games every month. The study suggests that 80% of mobile consumers participate in gaming with their mobile device in some way. Another study conducted by Flurry Analytics in October 2012 also shows that tablet users tend to play more mobile games than smartphone users by a margin of 67% to 39%.

Games are attractive due to their accommodating nature

The allure of mobile games is largely due to their convenience. Most of these games are designed to be very accommodating for all types of gamers. The fact that these games can be played anywhere and at any time is also part of what makes them so attractive. Free games, in particular, tend to have the highest attraction to consumers as they do not need to be purchased before they can be enjoyed.

Mobile games benefit from freemium model

| March 9, 2013

Mobile Games FreemiumFreemium makes mobile games a booming market

Mobile games have become a very prominant market for the game industry. Games for smartphones and tablets represent a market worth billions of dollars in revenue and this market has begun to attract game developers that had previously been focused exclusively on developing titles for consoles and PCs. Though mobile games generate a massive amount of revenue on a yearly basis, most of these games are entirely free, though boast of a wide variety of in-game transactions. This business model is often referred to as “freemium.”

In-game transactions relatively accepted by gamers

Freemium is a simple concept: Mobile games that are free to obtain and free to play, but provide gamers with the opportunity to purchase in-game items and power-ups that can make the game more enjoyable. This is where the majority of the revenue that is generated by mobile games comes from. The freemium model allows developers to offer services to gamers for a relatively low price and because these prices are so low, consumers tend to participate in in-game transactions on a regular bases.

Freemium opens mobile games to more consumers

Analysts from Index Ventures, a venture capital investment firm, suggest that the freemium model is ideal for the mobile games market. This model allows developers to price-discriminate individual consumers, eliminating the upfront costs that are associated with other business models. A typical console game can cost anywhere from $30 to $60, but most mobile games are offered for free, with additional content being offered for as little as $1. Index Ventures suggests that the freemium model does not exploit consumers, but rather allows for a broader consumer base to participate in mobile games.

Business model not accepted by all gamers

Index Ventures suggests that many consumers are willing to sink money into mobile games in order to gain as much entertainment from these games as possible. The freemium model may be great for developers, but it is not universally accepted among gamers. Many argue that the freemium model encourages developers and publishers to create games that are deliberately restrictive in order to heavily promote in-game transactions.