Seattle,
Wash. - PopCap Games, a developer and publisher of casual
games, announced the results of a new survey that shows 57 percent of
AT&T wireless customers who were polled play mobile games on their
wireless devices. The survey, conducted by Information Solutions Group
among more than 1100 AT&T wireless customers, underscores the
growing popularity of mobile gaming, reveals an official.
Why are wireless consumers turning to mobile gaming? Mobile gaming
serves as a distraction and a source of stress relief for on-the-go
consumers.
• More than 50 percent of mobile gamers polled said
they gamed as a distraction from daily life issues, while 40 percent
said they gamed for relaxation and stress relief.
• Fifty
percent of mobile gamers polled say they play mobile games during work
hours, while one in seven mobile gamers say they most often play games
on their phone during work when they need a short break.
Nearly
60 percent of mobile gamers in the survey indicated they play games on
their wireless device at least once a month, and 40 percent said they
played weekly or more often.
• 91 percent of mobile gaming sessions are 30 minutes or less; 62 percent are less than 15 minutes.
•
Over three quarters (78 percent) of mobile gamers have been playing
games on their phone for more than a year, and 55 percent of those say
they’ve been playing for 3+ years.
• On average, nearly a quarter (22.2 percent) of mobile gamers’ total game playing time occurs on their mobile phones.
Mobile
gaming is poised for growth in 2009. One-third of mobile gamers
surveyed said they were “somewhat or very likely” to purchase a game
for their cell phone in 2009.
• Just over a quarter (26
percent) said they’ve paid for a mobile game. (Across all mobile phone
owners, including those who have never played a game on their phone,
this equates to 15 percent having purchased a game.) More than three
quarters (76 percent) of mobile gamers said they have played free games
that came pre-installed on their phone, and a third (33 percent)
indicated they have downloaded one or more free games to their phone.
•
The top factors influencing participants’ decisions to buy a mobile
game were “game is in a genre I like” (61 percent), “price of the game
is reasonable” (52 percent) and “played demo version and liked it” (50
percent).
• Survey respondents who have purchased one or more
mobile games have purchased an average of 7.2 mobile games; 26 percent
said they’d purchased four or more games in the past year, with those
newer to mobile gaming being more likely to purchase games for the
phone.
• Among respondents who indicated they would not be
buying a mobile game in 2009, the top three reasons for that decision
were: “happy with free games” (24 percent), “none of the games interest
me enough to buy” (15 percent), and “lack of time to play” (14 percent).
What games are played most? According to the survey:
•
Tetris (20 percent) and Bejeweled (18 percent) were most frequently
named as “games you enjoy playing on your cell phone,” with Solitaire a
close third (17 percent).
• The most popular genres of mobile
games are Puzzle (66 percent) and Card/Casino (51 percent), with Board
games (15 percent) and Action/Adventure (11 percent) a distant third
and fourth.
• When asked to name the most compelling
characteristics that “motivate mobile game players to play the same
game numerous times on their cell phone,” respondents cited “relaxing
game play” (62 percent) and “addictiveness” (30 percent) as the top two
influencers.
Mobile gamers in the survey are fairly evenly split
by gender, with 51 percent of males and 49 percent of females saying
they game.
• Men tend to play mobile games somewhat more
frequently than women; 44 percent of male respondents said they play
once a week or more often, compared to 35 percent of female
respondents.
• But women play for longer stretches of time.
Forty-one percent of women surveyed say their average mobile gaming
session was 15 minutes or more, compared to 35 percent of men.