NPD has released its Online Gaming 2011 report, where they noted that mobile phone games represent nearly half of all digital game sales. The share of digital downloads then goes to PCs, then consoles, portables and other systems.

Mobile gaming represents one of the fastest growing segments of the digital games market, and potential for future growth remains strong as more consumers are using smartphones for games of all types, including the increasingly popular mobile game apps,” said NPD’s industry analyst Anita Frazier. “It is important to keep in perspective that the full-game price points on mobile devices are generally lower than those for console and portables systems , so mobile’s full game download unit share does not translate to a comparable level of consumer spend.

Results for how this result for mobile game consumers affected their consumption of other sorts of games were mixed. 60 percent indicated that they are still spending the same or more on console and portable games, though 40 percent are spending less.

While there is clearly some substitution for spending on traditional forms of gaming among 40 per cent of consumers, the majority of mobile consumers indicate that this spending is incremental to their spend on console or portable games, Frazier added. “Which makes sense since the games and devices provide for different types of gaming occasions and experiences.