Are you a geek guy who owns every console and plays all the AAA-titles? What if we told you that your spouse is a bigger gamer than you?
Women are more into games than men, at least on mobile platforms, according to mobile-advertising company Flurry.
Flurry's latest report, "Mobile Gaming: Females Beat Males on Money, Time and Loyalty," reveals that women spend 35 percent more time than men in mobile games. Women make 31 percent more in-app purchases in mobile games than men. And women are 42 percent more likely than men to play a game seven days after first installing it.
While the extent of the mobile gaming gender gap is surprising, the fact that women are more into mobile games probably should not be. After all, there are dozens of must-have games that are either more neutral than the violent games men tend to play, such as Candy Crush Saga, or specifically targeted to women and their predilections, such as Kim Kardashian: Hollywood.
"While the fact that females invest more time in gaming apps, especially in management and simulation games, has rarely been disputed, the fact that females also outspend males in In-App Purchases came as a surprise to us," Flurry analyst Simon Khalaf stated in the report.
The report also tracks what genres of games women prefer and men play. Women play Simulation/Management, Solitaire, Slots, Casino/Poker, Match3/Bubble Shooter, Bingo, Social, Brain/Quiz and Endless Runner games more than men. Men play Card/Battle, Tower Defense, Shooter and Action RPG games more than women. Arcade, Platformer, Racing and Physics Puzzle games were neutral.
How should men feel now that women are becoming bigger gamers? It's just business. "While the broadening of the mobile gaming base may not be welcome by hardcore male gamers, it brings good news to advertisers seeking to reach their audience," said Khalaf in the report. "In fact, advertisers are shifting billions of dollars in advertising to the mobile platform with the hopes of reaching the audience that is glued to smartphones and tablets 24/7/365."
The report points Kim Kardashian's game making $700,000 per day as a sign of the changing landscape. Khalaf stated, "The media didn't question Ms. Kardashian's star appeal, it questioned the game's appeal to a broad mobile gaming audience, an audience long believed to be dominated by males in general and teens and college students in particular. It might be true that Ms. Kardashian's fan club is not packed with teenage boys and young men attending college, but the fact is this: the mobile gaming audience is not what is used to be."
The figures from the report comes from "a sample of successful games that reach a total of 1.1 million devices on the Flurry platform."
Photo: Sascha Kohlmann
