Mobiles claim half of game downloads

Digital games downloads for mobile games devices now account for around half of all full game downloads, says MCV UK.

That's according to a new report entitled Online Gaming 2011 from US stats body NPD. The figure does not include money spent on micro-transactions or game add-ons.

The announcement didn't specify the exact percentage, but an NPD spokesperson told Shack News that mobile games took 47% of the total downloads in their poll results.

It's important to note that this is only counting full game downloads, not micro-transactions and add-on content.

On top of that, the statistic tracks purchased games, not price, so users snatching up 10 or 15 apps costing $1 for the price of one downloadable PC or PSN/XBLA game lends the platform more weight.

NPD analyst Anita Frazier notes: “Full-game price points on mobile devices are generally lower than those for console and portable systems, so mobile's full game download unit share does not translate to a comparable level of consumer spend.”

According to Media Newswire, among those who purchased a mobile game in the past three months, 60% indicated that they are still spending the same or more on console and portable games since they started purchasing for their mobile devices, while 40% reported spending less.

“While there is clearly some substitution for spending on traditional forms of gaming among 40% of consumers, the majority of mobile consumers indicate that this spending is incremental to their spend on console or portable games,” according to Frazier.

“Which makes sense since the games and devices provide for different types of gaming occasions and experiences.”