Mobile gaming - everything to play for
Author: Christopher Smith
Chances are that you or someone you know is affected by the
mobile gaming virus. There is a lot of it about and developments
in technology are helping it to spread like wildfire. Even if
you do not consider yourself a gamer you could one day be
exposed to its effects. All it takes is a Java-enabled mobile
phone and there are already over 150 million of them in the US
alone.
What we are really talking about of course is the growth in
popularity of mobile gaming; in other words, playing games on
your mobile phone. Mobile gaming is set to become big business
in 2004 as the number of BREW (Binary Runtime Environment for
Wireless) and Java-enabled mobile phones in circulation
continues to grow. In addition, manufacturers are continually
adding colored screens and advanced features to their latest
models, making mobile gaming a rich and vibrant experience for
users.
The games themselves are readily available from a wide range of
sources and can be easily downloaded from numerous web sites,
with prices starting at $2.99 or less. There is something for
everyone with games ranging from favorites such as PacMan, chess
and checkers to motor racing, jet-skiing and even erotic games.
Many people consider online gaming to be a predominantly male
activity and a young male activity at that. Last fall, at a
conference on mobile gaming, Mark Stanger from game developers
Eidos suggested that 92% of PlayStation 2 players are men.
Whilst it is probably true that online and console gamers are
mainly male (how many women do you know that own a Sony
PlayStation 2) analysis suggests that mobile phone gaming could
be encouraging a growing percentage of women to play games.
Downloading games to a mobile phone can be done from anywhere.
Women do not need to venture into the testosterone-laden
atmosphere of game shops and this may account for why an
increasing number of females are entering the world of mobile
gaming. Interestingly, it also appears that women are playing
the more traditional games such as solitaire and backgammon
rather than the 'shoot 'em dead' kind.
Just as more women are playing games, so to are an increasing
number of older people. Figures from the Entertainment Software
Association released in August 2003 indicate that a full 17% of
game players are over age 50, up from 13% in 2000.
This would suggest that gamers are an increasingly diverse group
and the appeal of gaming is spreading across the sexes and
across different ages and socio-economic backgrounds. People
seem to be more and more at ease playing games on consoles,
online and now on mobile phones.
With growing awareness of mobile gaming, improved and ever-wider
distribution channels for mobile games, and an increasing degree
of comfort with payment and delivery over the air amongst
subscribers, everything points to an explosion in growth. This
translates into a multi-billion dollar market for providers of
mobile technology, game developers and retailers and a
completely new way of looking at mobile phones.
Copyright © 2004, Christopher Smith
About the author:
Christopher Smith is a marketer and copywriter.
<< Home