By the end of 2013, the number of paying players on mobile and tablet devices will surpass the number of paying players on dedicated gaming handhelds.
That's according to a forecast from the International Data Corporation, which predicts a steady rise in the number of paying mobile gamers over the next five years.
The number of handheld consoles shipped, meanwhile, will fall at an average of nearly 7 percent per year across the same period, according to the IDC's report.
However, the IDC expects handheld consoles such as the 3DS and Vita to lead in terms of average revenue per user through 2017.
The handover
"In order for Nintendo's and Sony's gaming-optimised handhelds to remain ahead of smartphones and tablets on key metrics such as ARPU, these companies and their game card developer and publisher partners will have to redouble their efforts in a number of respects," explained Lewis Ward, IDC research manager and author of its latest report.
"Digital distribution has reached an inflection point in mobile and portable gaming, and future success will largely boil down to finding a unique balance of freemium business model excellence and that ability to deliver compelling social experiences."
IDC's take comes after Juniper predicted that the number of games downloaded across mobile and tablet will triple by 2017, thanks to cloud-based games taking pride of place on portable devices.
The full report Worldwide Gaming-Optimized Handheld, Smartphone, and Tablet Gaming 20132017 Forecast is available from the IDC website.
Data & Research
Related Articles
as
News
Dec 20th, 2016
China's mobile eSports industry expected to generate $2.6 billion in revenue in 2016
News
Oct 30th, 2014
Smartphone wars: Samsung and Apple lead the way but Xiaomi, Lenovo and LG are catching up
Top Stories
Feature
Mar 25th, 2024
5 takeaways from GDC 2024: The games industry reckons with key challenges, Godot competes with Unity, and AI was the big trend without the big announcements
Feature
Mar 25th, 2024
Hot Five: Epic’s app store plans, Turkey’s tax exemptions, and Call of Duty Warzone: Mobile finally releases globally
Events
Mobidictum Network Lisbon April 2024 | Europe | Apr 16th |
HIT Games Conference Istanbul 2024 | Apr 18th | |
App Promotion Summit London | Europe | Apr 25th |
Dubai GameExpo Summit 2024 | Middle East | May 1st |
Mobidictum Meetup Berlin May 2024 | Europe | May 7th |
Mobidictum Meetup Tallinn May 2024 | Europe | May 21st |
Israel Mobile Summit 2024 | Middle East | Jun 6th |
Mobidictum Meetup Barcelona September 2024 | Europe | Sep 1st |
Popular Stories
Feature
Mar 25th, 2024