A new survey released by PopCap Games, which became part of Electronic Arts (EA) in 2011, shows that half of UK and US mobile gamers also use their mobile devices as their primary game platform at home. 50% of the mobile phone and tablet gamers in the survey preferred to use their mobile devices instead of traditional consoles, computers and handheld gaming devices, with tablet-only players showing an even higher preference (57%) for their mobile device.
According to the survey, the top five places to play mobile games are:
- at home on the couch (69% of UK and US gamers surveyed),
- at home laying in bed (57%),
- as a passenger in a car or on a bus or train (63%),
- waiting for an appointment (55%) and
- while watching television (41%).
9% of mobile gamers said they’d been late or missed an appointment, class, ride or flight because they were playing a mobile game. 3.3% of US respondents even admitted to playing a mobile game in a church or other place of worship; the figure was just 0.7% in the UK.
Dennis Ryan, VP of Worldwide Publishing at PopCap, said “We already know that people play mobile games ‘on the go,’ but now we are seeing mobile gamers largely favour their mobile devices for home use. If you add the fact we are seeing a deluge of new gamers coming in through mobile, we believe mobile gaming is invading the last bastion of video game consoles and personal computers: the home.”
The survey contacted 1,004 people in the UK and the USA who’d played a game on their mobile phone in the past month.
[Full results (pdf)]