Yahoo Finance A Foolish Take: Gamers Prefer Smartphones Over PCs and Gaming Consoles
Video games were once mostly played on PCs or consoles. However, smartphones gradually overtook both platforms over the past decade, and eMarketer recently found that roughly two-thirds of all male and female gamers worldwide played mobile games.
Data source: eMarketer. Chart by author.
The study also shattered the stereotype of the young male gamer. Eighty-eight percent of men and 83% of women played games, and over 70% of adults aged 45-64 still played games at least once a month.
This market shift is great news for mobile game developers, but it's less encouraging for console makers like Sony (NYSE: SNE), Microsoft (NASDAQ: MSFT), and Nintendo (NASDAQOTH: NTDOY).
However, Sony is already preparing for a console-free future with PlayStation Now, a cloud gaming service that runs on multiple platforms. Microsoft is developing a similar platform called Project xCloud, and Nintendo already publishes mobile games. Alphabet's Google also plans to launch its cloud gaming platform, Stadia, later this year.
It's unlikely that smartphone games will ever render PC and console games obsolete. Instead, this shift should significantly expand the gaming market, and developers will likely launch a wider range of games to reach a broader audience.
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Suzanne Frey, an executive at Alphabet, is a member of The Motley Fool's board of directors. Teresa Kersten, an employee of LinkedIn, a Microsoft subsidiary, is a member of The Motley Fool's board of directors. Leo Sun has no position in any of the stocks mentioned. The Motley Fool owns shares of and recommends GOOGL, GOOG, and Microsoft. The Motley Fool recommends Nintendo. The Motley Fool has a disclosure policy.