57% of AT&Ters Play Mobile Games: Tetris Most Popular

By Lynn Walford on May 7, 2009 11:31 AM

PopCap Games, results of a new survey, show 57 percent of AT&T wireless customers who were polled play mobile games on their wireless devices. The survey, conducted by Information Solutions Group among more than 1,100 AT&T wireless customers, underscores the growing popularity of mobile gaming.

Fun and Stress Relief on The Go: Times and Reasons for Playing

The top three benefits derived from playing mobile games were identified as: "Distraction from daily life issues" (52%); "Relaxation and stress relief" (40%); and "improved mood" (12%).

52% of mobile gamers say they play mobile games during work hours and one in seven (14%) mobile gamers chose "during my work day, when I need a short break" as the time when they most often play games on their phone.
60% of all mobile gamers selected "while waiting for an appointment" as a time when they play mobile games, with "during the day on weekdays" being cited by 34% of respondents and "when traveling on vacation" and "on the weekend" tying for third with 25% of respondents choosing each.

Mobile Games Consumption

59% indicated they play games on their phone at least once a month; 40% said they played weekly or more often, while 41% said they played less than once per month.
91% of mobile gaming sessions are 30 minutes or less; fully 62% are less than 15 minutes. 71% of mobile gamers play games on their phone for less than an hour per week; more than half (52%) of those who play daily said they play for three or more hours per week.
Over three quarters (78%) of mobile gamers have been playing games on their phone for more than a year, and 55% of those say they've been playing for 3+ years.
On average, nearly a quarter (22.2%) of a mobile gamer's total game playing time occurs on their mobile phone.

Mobile gaming is poised for growth in 2009. One-third of AT&T mobile gamers surveyed said they were "somewhat or very likely" to purchase a game for their cell phone in 2009.

Just over a quarter (26 percent) said they've paid for a mobile game. (Across all mobile phone owners, including those who have never played a game on their phone, this equates to 15 percent having purchased a game.) More than three quarters (76 percent) of mobile gamers said they have played free games that came pre-installed on their phone, and a third (33 percent) indicated they have downloaded one or more free games to their phone.
The top factors influencing participants' decisions to buy a mobile game were "game is in a genre I like" (61 percent), "price of the game is reasonable" (52 percent) and "played demo version and liked it" (50 percent).
Survey respondents who have purchased one or more mobile games have purchased an average of 7.2 mobile games; 26 percent said they'd purchased four or more games in the past year, with those newer to mobile gaming being more likely to purchase games for the phone.
Among respondents who indicated they would not be buying a mobile game in 2009, the top three reasons for that decision were: "happy with free games" (24 percent), "none of the games interest me enough to buy" (15 percent), and "lack of time to play" (14 percent).

"Adoption of mobile games continues to grow, but conversion rate (free to paid players) remains low," observed Michael Cai, vice president of video games research at Interpret LLC, a leading media research and analysis firm. "Business model diversification is one way to address this conundrum. In addition, more innovative games, like Peggle, and fewer clones and knock-offs, are among the keys to unlocking the potential of the mobile gaming market."

What games are played most? According to the survey:

Tetris (20 percent) and Bejeweled (18 percent) were most frequently named as "games you enjoy playing on your cell phone," with Solitaire a close third (17 percent).
The most popular genres of mobile games are Puzzle (66 percent) and Card/Casino (51 percent), with Board games (15 percent) and Action/Adventure (11 percent) a distant third and fourth.
When asked to name the most compelling characteristics that "motivate mobile game players to play the same game numerous times on their cell phone," respondents cited "relaxing game play" (62 percent) and "addictiveness" (30 percent) as the top two influencers.

Mobile gamers in the survey are fairly evenly split by gender, with 51 percent of males and 49 percent of females saying they game.

Men tend to play mobile games somewhat more frequently than women; 44 percent of male respondents said they play once a week or more often, compared to 35 percent of female respondents.
But women play for longer stretches of time. Forty-one percent of women surveyed say their average mobile gaming session was 15 minutes or more, compared to 35 percent of men.