According to a new whitepaper from Parks Associates, the percentage of gamers in the U.S. who regularly download games or gaming apps to their mobile devices has increased from 7 percent in 2008 to 18 percent in 2011. Also 71 percent of adults and 79 percent of teens are believed to play games on a tablet device at least one hour per month.
The whitepaper, titled "Trends in Digital Gaming: Free-to-Play, Social, and Mobile Games", suggests that the industry is shifting towards in-game purchases as a main form of revenue. Facebook gamers spend an average of $29 per month, and free-to-play gamers spend $21 per month for DLC and virtual goods.
"In-app purchases greatly expand monetization of the free-to-play model, thanks to seamless payments," said Pietro Macchiarella, Research Analyst at Parks Associates. "Already, most of the top grossing games on iTunes and Android can be downloaded for free and generate the majority of their revenues via virtual purchases. While mobile players are often characterized as 'casual gamers,' they spend a comparable amount of money on free-to-play titles as their peers spend on console games."
As more tablets are purchased, it is believed that games will monetize themselves even more on those devices. "Games running on smartphones and tablets have a significant advantage in the free-to-play business model, compared to their counterparts on PCs," added Macchiarella.
