While video games as a whole are growing in reach and sales, the format in which they’re preferred is certainly changing and that may be bad news for makers of PC games.
A report from The NPD Group, titled Kids and Gaming 2015, indicates that mobile devices are now the most popular platform for gaming amongst kids aged 2-17, to an estimated 63 percent. That beats out both consoles and PC games.
That means that only 45 percent of kids in that age group are playing on a home computer a 22 percent drop-off from 2013’s statistics. This is the case for all age groups, but is mainly towards the young set, ages 2-5.
Consoles are still popular, but they’re waning a bit as well, with portable platforms (the 3DS and PS Vita) suffering the biggest decline. That said, they still remain popular amongst the 9-11 age group with a 41 percent hold. That’s slightly less than home computer usage.
“The largest and most surprising shift in the 2015 gaming ecosystem was kids move away from the computer,” said Liam Callahan, industry analyst, The NPD Group. “In the past, the computer was considered the entry point for gaming for most kids, but the game has changed now that mobile has moved into that position. This may be related to a change in the behavior of parents that are likely utilizing mobile devices for tasks that were once reserved for computers.”
Kids’ engagement has also picked up quite a bit on mobile devices. 41 percent of those polled said they spend more time on these mobile units than they did in the past year, with the average time spent on them per week reaching around six hours.
And even though consoles have seen a decline in terms of usage, eighth-generation gaming (Xbox One, PlayStation 4) is still doing better than the previous generation (Xbox 360, PlayStation 3).
While overall gaming incidence rates have remained high, shifts in consumer behavior things like growth in time spent gaming — are surprising changes, said Callahan. This type of insight is invaluable to anyone engaged in marketing video games to kids.
The numbers also indicate that physical games continue to do better than digital, with average spending staying somewhere around $27. Compared to that, digital spending averages around $13, although that is an increase of $5 over the previous year. And this is across both genders, male and female.
However, boys seem more likely to spend additional funds, around $54, compared to $36 spent by girls, according to the report. That said, girls are more likely to be gaming on mobile, although the average for spending on that format is about even for both sexes.
To conclude, two out of every ten gamers polled by The NPD Group indicated that they’re spending more on games and microtransactions than they were a year ago, and physical game spending is actually three times more than any other gaming device. Meanwhile, digital games and microtransaction spending in general seems to be on the same level as the previous year.
Game on!
