CARLSBAD, Calif.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--With almost three quarters of Americans playing games on smartphones and tablets, what makes a mobile game thrive in an overcrowded and rapidly expanding market? EEDAR, the largest specialty video game research firm worldwide, today released a report on the current state of mobile and tablet games to answer the question. “2014 Deconstructing Mobile & Tablet Gaming” identifies the latest trends and key players in the rapidly evolving mobile game experience, including new, exclusive insight to consumer habits and gaming elements that are driving the mobile and tablet games market into the new year and beyond. The report can be found here.
“EEDAR’s exclusive research shows exponential growth in the mobile and tablet games sector – yet only a small amount of game publishers are profiting from an even smaller percentage of paying mobile gamers,” said Patrick Walker, head of insights and analytics, EEDAR. “An informed strategy is now critical to success in this difficult market, but the opportunity that comes with proper execution is huge. We have identified the main factors that are producing growth in a competitive and oversaturated market, helping developers understand which consumers are choosing mobile and tablet games and more importantly why they are playing them. Contrary to where many developers are currently going, it’s not core gamers seeking traditional console experiences on a mobile platform.”
Examining the rapid growth of the mobile and tablet games market, “2014 Deconstructing Mobile & Tablet Gaming” first analyzes market size and segmentation leading into demographics and behavior. Using a mobile funnel analysis, the extensive report breaks down the mobile and tablet game experience into five essential parts: discovery, engagement, virality, monetization and churn. The report also evaluates which genres are currently grossing the highest revenue in the market with an in-depth mobile genre analysis.
Some highlights of “2014 Deconstructing Mobile & Tablet Gaming” include:
- Revenues across phones and tablets exceed $4.6 billion in 2014
- Monetization means everything: 50% of revenues come from 6% of users, the “whales”; 77% of whales use both a phone and a tablet
- The average age of a mobile game player dropped seven years from 2013 to 27.7 in 2014 as the market continues to broaden
- Mobile is becoming more about “games as a service” vs. a one-time purchase; free-to-play is becoming the expected standard for mobile game users and the number one reason people will leave a game is due to overly aggressive monetization
- Tablet sales are slipping, but are still popular platforms for gaming and driving revenue
- Although mobile gaming is growing, it won’t threaten core console gaming anytime soon; core gamers play mobile games as an extension of a brand or experience they are using on another platform
Cross-analysis among more than 3,500 mobile gamers reveals important behavioral patterns and reinforces that core gamers are not the current leading players of mobile games, it’s casual female gamers. But men spend more money in games than their female counterparts. The report also unveils new data on the use of video as a rising content discovery tool, as well as research on the main reasons for user loyalty and leading causes for user abandonment – and the hybrid role tablets are playing in game popularity and generating revenue.
Added Walker, “‘2014 Deconstructing Mobile & Tablet Gaming’ is a must-have for anyone developing, publishing or investing in mobile games. As the mobile games market is shifting toward cross-platform and mobile gamers’ habits are evolving, developers need to take a step back and analyze the data in order to create mobile games that are optimized to thrive in a new marketplace. They not only need to engage the player, but also build long-term relationships with the consumer.”
The free 41-page version of the report can be accessed here. The full report can be purchased online and contains over 120 pages detailing overviews of 20 major mobile games and additional new data on consumer engagement and segmentation.
About EEDAR
Founded in 2006 by video game industry veterans, EEDAR is the largest specialty video game research firm in the world. Leveraging a proprietary database of over 80 million internally researched data points from more than 50,000 physical and digital video game products, EEDAR is the sole provider of end-to-end integrated data analysis solutions that allow for the examination of every factor influencing the success of past, present, and future video game titles.
EEDAR’s well-known services include GamePulse® (a continuously updated application converging data for physical and digital game industry research), DesignMetrics® (sales forecasting, SWOT analysis and custom research), Editorial Insights (mock reviews and outlet bias), discovery and recommendation technologies, investor due-diligence, expert testimony, and custom research services.
EEDAR is based in Carlsbad, California and has been recognized by Forbes Magazine as one of America’s Most Promising Companies and also holds the Guinness World Record for the largest collection of video game facts and information. Visit www.eedar.com for more information on products and services.
