More and more people are playing games on their smartphones and tablets, with Juniper Research forecasting that by 2017, there will be 64.1 billion games downloaded onto these devices. The figure is over 3 times that of 2012, which stood at 21 billion.
According to the research company, there are three reasons for the high rate of growth:
- The increasing number of free-to-play releases – in 2017, only 7% of games will be paid for at the point of purchase across smartphones and tablets.
- More sophisticated devices – with smartphones and tablets steadily emerging as the primary screen for gamers.
- The global uptake of smartphones – with the falling prices, feature phone sales are dropping in favor of smart devices.
The report author Siân Rowlands argues that tablet games are growing so much because they are such an accessible way for all consumer segments to access games. “In particular mid-core gamers, who previously spent a lot of money and time playing games but now have jobs, families or other commitments, are driving this trend,” he added.
In addition, the report also looked at the impact made by smartphone and tablet games on the dedicated portable gaming device market. And while mobile and tablet games will not mark the end of this market, it definitely challenge incumbent players in this field.
As usual, you can get additional details from Juniper’s report titled “Mobile & Tablet Games: Discovery, In-App Purchases & Advertising.”