Is mobile gaming your guilty pleasure? Our ‘State of Mobile Gaming 2021’ analysis takes a look at consumer’s behavior and attitudes towards mobile gaming in 2021, as well as breaking down the most favored and played games of the year!
GWS obtained data from our opt-in OneMeasure Consumer Panel (OMCP), which details the mobile app usage and content of roughly 50,000 consumers located across the U.S., to generate the ‘State of Mobile Gaming in 2021’ analysis. The OMCP is an opt-in panel that measures consumers’ mobile app usage and behavior, network performance and consumer perceptions. As such, the ‘State of Mobile Gaming in 2021’ is a unique study that blends together critical insights into gaming consumers’ smartphone behavior and consumer sentiment based on survey responses.
Key findings from our analysis include:
- The majority (55%) of respondents spent less than $1 on mobile games in the last three months.
- Casual & Puzzle (69%) and Card & Casino (62%) game players were most averse to spending money on in-app purchases.
- Fighting, Survival and Role-Playing Games (RPG) players were the industry’s biggest spenders, as 10% of those gaming consumers spent between $20-24.99 in the past three months.
- Only 7% of consumers cited “staying connected with family and friends” as a motivation for playing mobile games, a sign that consumers may need a break from their immediate family following the pandemic.
- The most cited reason consumers play mobile games was to “pass the time/relieve boredom” (29%).
- When asked what smartphone-related aspects play a role in facilitating the best gaming experience, 31% of gaming consumers indicated uninterrupted gameplay was most important, followed by battery life (20%) and screen size/quality (16%).
- The only players that responded that game load time was the most important factor to them were gaming consumers who played Strategy & Action-Adventure games.
