The future of wireless gaming was hinted at throughout the CTIA Wireless IT Conference in San Francisco this week. Mixed in with the partnership announcements and media distribution deals were a smattering of statistics and survey results that point to some fundamental truths about the mobile game space. Among these truths: the future is bright, but the consumer is finicky.
No matter the form the future mobile space takes, today's rapid expansion of markets in India, parts of Africa and Brazil mean that tailored solutions and strategies are more important than ever. The results of a study published by KPMG International, and made available at the show, offered a sharp picture of the market for mobile games worldwide.
According to the KPMG survey, the North American mobile games market is likely the most difficult to crack. 71.6 percent of respondents on that continent stated that they did not want to pay for mobile games. That number is only 43 percent in Asia, where the highest percentage, 8.5 percent, of users reported that they would be willing to pay a per/access fee to play mobile games.
RIM was the only company on-hand with a real, live mascot.
In contrast, only one percent of respondents outside of Asia would be willing to pay in this manner. Advertising-funded games are most tantalizing to those in Latin America, where 31.8 percent of those surveyed preferred to view ads instead of paying for games. Still, 53 percent of those surveyed stated that they didn't want to pay for or view ads to play games.
