Fixed Mobile Convergence

The mobile phone has surpassed PCs and consoles as the primary gaming device among adults in the U.S. and the U.K., according to a recent survey.

Conducted by Information Solutions Group, the survey found that 52 percent of the 2,425 respondents had played a game on their mobile phone at some point in the past. U.K. residents (77 percent) were much more likely to have done so than those residing in the U.S. (44 percent).

Between respondents in both countries, a total of 33.6 percent had played at least one mobile phone game in the last month, while nearly a quarter took part in the activity in the last week.

As expected, smartphone owners, with access to thousands of Web-based games and apps, were the most active users. Nearly 93 percent of smartphone-owning mobile gamers indicated that they play at least once a week, with 45 percent doing so on a daily basis.

When taking into account all mobile phones, a total of 35 percent of gamers play each day. Two years ago, just 13 percent played on a daily basis.

"Mobile games are, along with social games, the hottest sector of the video game industry by far," said Dennis Ryan, EVP of worldwide publishing at PopCap (News - Alert), a game developer that sponsored the survey.

"As more people purchase smartphones and the entire process of finding, purchasing and playing mobile games becomes as simple as browsing the Internet, the mobile games market is going to accelerate even more," he added.

Companies like PopCap are reaping the benefits of the mobile gaming phenomenon because a growing number of users are upgrading free trial downloads to the paid versions of the games. Among all mobile gamers, nearly 44 percent have paid a fee to get the complete edition of a no-cost game.