Mobile Games and the Future of the Gaming Industry

19 Sep 2012

It has just become a mobile gamer's world. According to a very recent report published by the NPD Group, mobile gamers are now the largest and most profitable segment of the entire gaming industry. Although gaming and software developers are still trying to figure out what these new studies imply about the future of their industry, it certainly is an indication that a lot of things have changed. According to the study, around 211.5 million in the United States alone play video games regularly.

Further information and studies are still required for a more detailed analysis, but at this point, experts now have a lot of reliable data to recognize the path of the entire gaming industry in the next few years. The fact is that key gamer segments are changing, and they're likely to continue changing in the next few years, as new technologies and software are developed.

With mobile gamers now making up the largest gamer segment, many game developers may see Core Gamers, the largest gaming segment in 2011, as less of a priority for new game titles in 2013 and beyond. It's worth mentioning also that NPD Group's study segmented the gaming audience based on several important variables and attributes, and looking across the entire gaming market presents a significant impact from mobile games, especially those which are based on smartphones and tablets. Given this trend, it's very likely that new research materials will be released in the coming months to take a closer look at the rise of mobile gaming.

In any case, gaming statistics have reported last month that the average cost of physical games is around $48, whereas the average cost of digital games - Portable/Concole and PC - is around $16. It's also worth mentioning that Core Gamers have spent around $65 on physical games during this period of time. So given the rise in demand for mobile games, it's also very likely that their prices will increase in the foreseeable future.