MocoSpace recently conducted a three-month survey polling nearly 500,000 gamers on the company’s network of 22 million users. The study found that while gamers aged 25 to 35 spend the most time playing social games on mobile devices, gamers over the age of 45 spend far more on virtual goods.

Gamers over the age of 35, who made up 18 percent of those surveyed, were responsible for 42 percent of virtual goods purchases. By comparison, gamers aged 18 to 25 (43 percent of those surveyed) were responsible for only 18 percent of the purchases.

“We’re seeing parents go from spending money on buying games for their kids, to spending money on virtual goods in games for themselves,” said MocoSpace CEO Justin Siegel. “The time-versus-money balance seems to come into play here, where young people have more time than money, and the reverse holds true as we all grow up.”

The results of the survey suggests that certain monetization methods should work better on different demographics. For instance, while younger demographic are likely to spend less, they might be more amenable to games that are ad-supported.

Source: MocoSpace