Interpret released its semi-annual GameByte study which says that the average gamer on smartphones and tablets spends $0.92 per month on full game apps and only $0.79 per month on mobile in-game items. By contrast, free-to-play MMO gamers spend about $3.25 each month, subscription MMO players spend $4.25 a month and console gamers spend $10.40 a month.
“In the U.S., 48 million people are actively engaged in smartphone and tablet gaming, more than double the 23 million playing free-to-play MMOs on PC,” said Jason Coston, senior analyst at Interpret. “But the average spend is so much weaker for mobile games that the two business models generate comparable revenues. The mobile game market may be a pretty big cookie jar, but the neck is rather narrow, the cookies are small, and there are a lot of hands trying to reach into the jar.”
While there’s a wide user base for mobile games, only 47 percent of U.S. mobile gamers paid for a full game app over a six-month period and only 21 percent paid for in-game items. While the console user base is smaller, 75 percent of retail console gamers paid for a physical console or PC game during that same period.
