Survey: Mobile Gaming Is Popular...Among Mobile Gamers
See Full ImageSurveys are a shifty bunch. They pop up all over the place on the Internet and they're always open to interpretation.
Take the latest survey from mobile gaming company MocoSpace, for example. The sampling isn't an issue; over 15,000 were polled.
And of that 15,000, 46% said they spend more time playing games on mobile devices, while only 26% said they spend more time with consoles (23% cited PCs). Now, before we play the logic game, we do find one particular statistic concerning: 47% of people say they're playing these games at home, where they don't need "mobile gaming" and where they might presumably have opportunities for vastly deeper experiences on consoles or PC.
Said MocoSpace CEO Justin Siegel:
"The fact that people are gaming on their mobile phones at home, often sitting a few feet away from their controller, shows that mobile is capable of grabbing and holding their interest. This data makes it clear that mobile is a viable alternative to console and PC gaming."
That's actually a little frightening. But put that aside for a moment and let's focus on the polled participants. Does anyone else notice or care that this poll was conducted at a mobile gaming website? And that those 15,000 are obviously into mobile gaming? Why do I get the feeling that if I ran the exact same poll here at PSXE, or if any REAL gaming site like GameSpot ran the same poll, the results would be very different...?
This is the problem with such surveys. While there's no doubt that mobile interactive entertainment is on the rise, the hardcore gamers have absolutely no intention of shifting their focus to a 4-inch screen, nor do they have any intention of leaving Skyrim behind. There seems to be this belief that all gamers are the same; hence, "gamers" being polled at MocoSpace are in the exact same group.
But based on what we've seen in the past, that really isn't true. How do you view the situation?
Tags: mobile gaming, portable gaming, video games, gaming industry
1/6/2012 12:24:57 PM Ben Dutka
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Comments (29 posts)
slugga_status
Friday, January 06, 2012 @ 1:16:58 PM
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johnld
Friday, January 06, 2012 @ 4:16:57 PM
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Jutter
Friday, January 06, 2012 @ 6:27:30 PM
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GuyverLT
Friday, January 06, 2012 @ 8:29:53 PM
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Underdog15
Friday, January 06, 2012 @ 1:09:50 PM
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Because no one actually cares enough to run a proper survey, they are all bologna.
But an additional fact, Ben. Keep in mind, 46% play more mobile games. 47% of that 46% do so at home. That means, approximately 22% of the 1500 play mobile at home.
What bothers me is that there is nothing more to give that meaning. How many of that 22% actually have a home console or a PC that is capable of high end gaming?
For example: My brother in law loves playing my PS3 when over, but he doesn't have a gaming rig or console. He has an iPhone, however, and plays mobile games from home all the time.
Lastly, as you mentioned in your article, when you consider that 22% of the 1500 prefer mobile when at home, and then wonder to ourselves out loud how many of them even have a current gaming rig at home.... are we surprised the, what is likely, relatively small percentage of voters at a MOBILE GAMING website said what they did?
In fact... why isn't that stat much larger at a mobile gaming dedicated site?
This "study", when broken down, isn't complete. And as a result, it isn't alarming at all.
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dkmrules
Friday, January 06, 2012 @ 1:26:30 PM
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I'm sad.
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PSTan
Friday, January 06, 2012 @ 1:28:09 PM
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On the subject of mobile gaming, I find myself liking it very much. A majority of these are casual, social games, but there are a few hardcore gems and ingenious games on say, apple's app store. While I believe that this new trend of creating games that please the masses doesn't necessarily bode well for the hardcore crowd, once you play certain games, it's hard to not understand why mobile gaming has dominated over the course of the past few years.
No doubt I will continue playing with my consoles (nothing as of right now can beat that experience), but we have to acknowledge the negative (and positive) impacts that mobile gaming has brought to the industry.
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SmokeyPSD
Friday, January 06, 2012 @ 1:36:49 PM
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gumbi
Friday, January 06, 2012 @ 2:34:25 PM
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frylock25
Friday, January 06, 2012 @ 4:01:19 PM
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FatherSun
Friday, January 06, 2012 @ 5:36:29 PM
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Ben Dutka PSXE [Administrator]
Friday, January 06, 2012 @ 8:03:21 PM
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Temjin001
Friday, January 06, 2012 @ 2:51:18 PM
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As for mobile gaming. It's not really the same competition. It's like comparing simple 23min cartoons to 3hour movies. Same medium, entirely different format.
I don't doubt there'll be more growth for great mobile games that even console gamers will like a lot. When I read Infinity Blade 2 drew in over $30million in revenue that tells me it will only make their efforts that much more commited to expanding that IP. What started as a small scale project will grow as devs feel more confident on the returns for their investment. The phone/tablet market is still in it's budding stages. I think with enough time, we may see convergence between markets that may please most everyone.
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FatherSun
Friday, January 06, 2012 @ 5:54:00 PM
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Masterofallz
Friday, January 06, 2012 @ 3:42:23 PM
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FatherSun
Friday, January 06, 2012 @ 6:03:39 PM
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johnld
Friday, January 06, 2012 @ 4:18:17 PM
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BikerSaint
Friday, January 06, 2012 @ 4:26:59 PM
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After checking, & then re-checking my results over & over again.....
I learned that I will never buy a cell phone & I will never give up my console gaming.
Best damned poll I ever participated in!!!!!
Last edited by BikerSaint on 1/6/2012 4:27:41 PM
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Fane1024
Friday, January 06, 2012 @ 7:50:15 PM
100% of those polled never play mobile games and don't even own a cell phone.
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FatherSun
Friday, January 06, 2012 @ 5:46:21 PM
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1.A- Do your prefer Mobile or Console? 1.B- Do you own or have you experienced both Mobile and Console gaming?
Without question 1.B the Poll is is elementary at best.
The gaming industry needs to be recognized properly and also stick together. Mobile or console, it is still the same category. GAMING!
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Qubex
Friday, January 06, 2012 @ 10:29:49 PM
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Only threat is if phones end up becoming like a VITA with the necessary snap on controls in order to enhance that gaming experience. Raw power and battery life will also be an inhibiting factor, therefore we may yet see consoles like the VITA soar in popularity nonetheless...
Time will tell...
Q!
"play.experience.enjoy"
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___________
Saturday, January 07, 2012 @ 7:37:49 AM
and thats with multiple applications running in the background, and 3G and WIFI on. oh and my headsets plugged in.
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souljah92
Saturday, January 07, 2012 @ 2:00:09 AM
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1 up, 1 down
___________
Saturday, January 07, 2012 @ 7:36:05 AM
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i was amazed when epic announced today infinity blade has netted them over 30M in 1 year!
mind you the game released at 8 bucks, and had quite a few sales dropping it to 5 i ended up picking it up for 3 bucks about 7 months ago.
in some areas mobile games are turning out a bigger profit then console games!
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BikerSaint
Saturday, January 07, 2012 @ 5:29:06 PM
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Robochic
Sunday, January 08, 2012 @ 8:13:33 AM
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anjpikapp3
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Friday, January 06, 2012 @ 1:03:45 PM
As for me, I only play my iPhone games when I take a smoke break from playing REAL games on the PS3 or PC.
Last edited by anjpikapp3 on 1/6/2012 1:04:35 PM