Game Development Reference
In-Depth Information
Mobile gamers
A crucial aspect while planning to make a mobile game is to think about your target
audience. We know that mobile games generally aim towards a casual audience.
Statistics tell us that there is a relation between gender, age, and game genre,
with women preferring Solitaire, social turn-based and management games, while
men are more oriented towards action, strategy and betting games (source:
ht-
The same study tells us, with regard to monetization, that Solitaire, Endless, and
social turn-based games have a high retention value upon gamers, while Strategy
games is the most often accessed game category.
We also know that, though in some western countries there is a 50/50 split between
male and female mobile gamers, men still tend to spend more, as we know that in the
US, 61 percent of paying gamers are men.
But there is more information that we know about mobile gamers. We know that as
a casual audience (mainly), they prefer polished games with well-tested mechanics,
clear goals, and cute graphics. We know that they don't like being frustrated while
playing and expect forgiving difficulty levels. We know that they prefer to play the titles
their friends play and that "word of mouth" is a powerful medium for popularity in the
mobile market. Finally, we know that as they are not used to paying much, if at all for
games, and we cannot expect too much investment from them in learning and mas-
tering your game's mechanics. The first impression for a mobile game is very import-
ant, as it is far too easy to download another title if you don't immediately like the one
you are playing. This doesn't usually happen if you spent 60 dollars on a traditional
console or PC game!
