Gamasutra

More than 100 million consumers in the U.S. are playing games on their smartphones, tablets, and iPod Touches, according to a new study published by market research firm Newzoo.

That amount has grown by more than a third compared to the number of mobile American gamers last year. Europe's population of smartphone and tablet gamers (across seven key territories) has also increased to 70 million, a 15 percent year-over-year jump.

Newzoo also notes in its Mobile Games Trend Report that the amount of time and money consumers are spending on mobile games is significantly higher -- last year, mobile gaming took up 13 percent of all time spent on games worldwide (130 million hours a day), and 9 percent of total money spent on games ($5.8 billion).

The group attributes the mobile games segment's growth to an uptake in in-game purchases for freemium titles, tablets and smartphones carving out their own separate markets, and the growing popularity of "mid-core games," or games that target core audiences but feature free-to-play business models.

Its report shows that free-to-play games accounted for 90 percent of mobile game spending in the U.S., and 79 percent in Europe. The research firm also notes that the top five grossing games for both Europe and the U.S. last month (e.g. Smurfs' Village, Zynga Poker) were all free-to-play.

Newzoo adds that if developers want to take advantage of mobile gaming's huge reach, they should not treat tablets and smartphones as a single segment, as the different screens fulfill different consumer needs. Tablets like the iPad, for example, are seen a floating screen that can replace TVs or computer screens, while iPhones are more personal devices.

The firm says that of the 100 million American mobile gamers, 69 percent play on a smartphone, 21 percent on a tablet, and 18 percent on an iPod Touch. In Europe, 69 percent also play on a smartphone, 16 percent on a tablet, and 11 percent on an iPod Touch.

http://www.gamasutra.com/view/news/167339/Over_100M_Americans_playing_smartphone_and_tablet_games_says_study.php

I don't find this to be much of a surprise. I'm pretty sure the percentage of adults in America who own smart phones has gone up every year now.

Not surprising. I'm sure everyone that owns a device that plays games, will occasionally play games. It's only natural that gaming playtime would increase as table/smartphone usage increases.

I wouldn't be surprised if there were 100m people playing PC games.

"games"

A few games make money in the free-to-play arena through micro transactions and the rest appear to lose money or fade away.

Plus, this report says people play games ...and how much is spent in some terms. It does not discuss whether or not there is a substitution effect/replacement of gaming going on (in other words, is the pie being re-arranged or is growing).

Plus, there are assumptions in the growth potential regarding conversions of players who are playing both right now to play more (and thus pay for) mobile games -- at least that is what it appears to be to me.

Mike from Morgantown

How long do they play the games for? How many of them actually buy a game? 90 percent of them play free to play games......

My feeling is the bulk of this is people migrating from PC flash games to mobile apps as the market as a whole drifts away from PCs to tablets/smartphones.

I don't think it'll have a significant impact on handhelds and home console until the 'mid-core' games market grows more and a 'core' market starts to develop on them, if that happens.

yeah i play games too on my phone sometimes but only when i wait for something while I'm outside

i'm gonna make a game called "Angry Gamers" and see how much it sells. angry gamers crushing iphones with angry birds playing in them

I wouldn't classify those 100 million as gamers.

That's it, Sony/Microsoft/Nintendo/PC are finished.