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Mobile is the most popular platform for gaming, but the least for paying customers

Newzoo study finds the platform has a lower player-to-payer ratio than console or PC

Mobile is the most popular platform for gaming, but the least for paying customers

Mobile has the lowest player-to-payer ratio of any games platform, according to a new survey from intelligence firm Newzoo.

In partnership with ACI worldwide, the survey gathered 2,051 responses from across the US, UK and Germany. Recipients were between the ages of 18 and 40 who played games for at least two hours per week on any platform.

Players versus payers

The report found that 95 per cent of gamers play on mobile, but the amount of players who transition to paying customers sits at only 56 per cent. Of course, the saturation of free games on mobile is far higher than either PC or console.

Across all platforms in all regions, 77 per cent of respondents were paying for their games in one form or another. Of that, 62 per cent are purchasing digital games, 51 per cent are spending on in-game transactions, and 46 per cent are buying physical copies.

Overall, men were more likely to spend money on games than women. The most pronounced gap was in the UK - 66 per cent of British men would pay for gaming, versus 49 per cent of women.

The survey also dug into why gamers were spending money on games. 39 per cent did so to derive more enjoyment, 27 per cent saw it as a gift to themselves. 20 per cent meanwhile treated payment as a sign of appreciation to the developer.

Across all platforms, regions and demographics, PayPal was by far the most popular form of payment method.

The full survey is available to download here.


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Staff Writer

Natalie Clayton is an Edinburgh-based freelance writer and game developer. Besides PCGamesInsider and Pocketgamer.biz, she's written across the games media landscape and was named in the 2018 GamesIndustry.biz 100 Rising Star list.