Mobile games beat handheld games in consumer spending last quarter

froggyboy604

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Consumer spending on gaming apps in Apple's App Store and on Google Play eclipsed spending on dedicated portable console games from Nintendo and Sony in the fourth quarter of last year. More specifically, spending on dedicated portable console games was highly seasonal — 60 percent of Q4 spending took place in December, likely as consumer picked up games for Christmas presents. iOS and Android game spending, on the other hand, was more evenly distributed.

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I think one of the main reasons people spend more on mobile games because more people have smartphones and tablets, and there are more ways to pay with Paypal, in-bill paying with your cell phone provider, giftcard, credit card, getting free paid apps by completing surveys, or downloading other free apps, and some prepaid phone plans let you use your minutes/credits on Apps, and other files like Music, and if your prepaid minures are going to expire soon, and you are not planning on re-filling up the phone with new minutes from a new prepaid card, you might as well just spend the unused credit/minutes on paid apps before the minutes expire, and you can't use them anymore.

Plus, most people who got tablets and smartphones might of also gotten giftcards or credits from the phone company, hardware maker, or the gift giver.

Earning iTunes and Amazon Giftcards for buying Apps on iTunes, and the Amazon App store is not hard with sites like Swagbucks.com, Mypoints.com and other sites which give you giftcards in exchange for using their sites to watch video with ads, search their search engine with ads, and doing paid surveys.

$1-5 dollars for a mobile game is also cheaper than $40 or more for a hand held game, and the graphics and gameplay on higher end phones like the LG Nexus 4, and iPhone 5 and tablets like the iPad 4 and Samsung Nexus 10 are pretty good.
 
well no $#!t they outsold handheld games. Most people already have the phones that you're buying the games for! Handheld consoles are a financial milestone people have to overcome in order to play games on them!
 
Indeed, people who buy handhelds usually have extra money to spend on games, accessories, and the console itself which may seem overpriced to many because now most smartphones with a 2-3 year contract cost 49.99 for a fast phone like a Samsung Galaxy SIII or even free like the iPhone 4/4S on a multi year contract.

The Free to play model of many mobile games might also increase sales numbers since if users like the free ads version of the mobile game, they will be more likely to buy the paid version when they have the cash. I think even piracy of paid game apps also help sell mobile games because new levels, items, features, and characters are added on a monthly basis for free after you pay, so game pirates might get tired of looking for the latest version, and might as well pay the $1.00 to have automatic new updates via Google Play or the Apple iOS apps store rather than sideloading apps from file sharing sites.
 
Mobile games are also easier to play, and don't require fast fingers and tons of time to play a game, so mobile games can be less frustrating for casual gamers who just want to play a game, and not spend hours repeating levels or leveling up their characters.

There are also fewer hackers, cheaters, and glitchers in online gameplay for mobile games like Shadowgun because most people who play phone games probably don't know or don't bother use to hack, use glitches, and cheats to win games when online.

Most online gameplay is also free unlike Xbox live which require a yearly subscription, or PSN which require a yearly subscription to unlock more features, and online games only on PSN Plus.
 
froggyboy604 said:
Mobile games are also easier to play, and don't require fast fingers and tons of time to play a game, so mobile games can be less frustrating for casual gamers who just want to play a game, and not spend hours repeating levels or leveling up their characters.
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You actually need to spend hours repeating levels to play mobile games. With tower defense games for example, the bonuses and higher levels cost a lot of in-game money, and if you don't want to or can't afford to buy them with real money you'll be in for a lot of grinding.
Plus there are also a few RPGs where you need to level grind.
 
There are games like Angry Birds, Fruit Ninja, Temple Run, and Doodle Jump where people mainly play for fun, but fewer people play for high scores, and achievements to enjoy the game.
 
Not surprised. Mobile games are dirt cheap. 3DS and Vita games are way too expensive for handheld games. I remember when GBA games only costed $20...
 
Super Mario, racing games, and fighting games are more achievement oriented compared to many mobile games like Temple Run where you can open an app, and play without being stuck on a certain level, or trying to beat a boss. I think a lot of people these days just game for 10 minutes between homework breaks, and work breaks, and a $40 game maybe too long for them to play when a $1-10 mobile games is good enough for gaming between small breaks before they get back to work.

I think paying $40 for a game on a smaller screen is kind of expensive unless the handheld has a video cable, or let you wirelessly display the game on a HDTV like a console.

For $10 more you can buy a console version of the game on the Wii U since a lot of games are 49.99 or less, and PC games usually cost less than $40 in many cases like Minecraft is only $30, but offers hundreds of hours of gameplay if block building gmaes.
 
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