PC second only to mobile for gaming in the US - EEDAR
Industry tracking group's survey says 52% of gamers play on PC, compared to 43% on consoles, just 9% on handhelds
Most industry watchers probably don't need EEDAR's 2018 Gamer Segmentation Report to tell them that mobile platforms are the most popular way for Americans to play games, but the industry-tracking group's latest survey shed some light on just how much more popular mobile devices are for gaming than consoles and PCs, and how much overlap there is between the markets.
Based on a June online survey of 5,000 active US gamers, EEDAR determined that 90% of American gamers play games on their smartphones or tablets. Fortunately for the non-mobile industry, 59% of American gamers play console and/or PC games in addition to mobile games.
In all, 52% of US gamers play PC games on desktops or laptops, making for a market a step larger than that of consoles, which draw the attention of 43% of US gamers. Handheld systems were a distant fourth place in popularity, with only 9% of American gamers playing them. (EEDAR did not consider the Nintendo Switch a handheld for the purposes of this survey.)
"Over the past several years, mobile gamers have been a key segment for the games industry to target with marketing spend because of the sheer size and diversity of the audience, as well as the amount of time invested in gaming on this platform," EEDAR head of consumer research Dr. Heather Nofziger said. "While there continues to be opportunity for growth in mobile, the real potential for growth lies with getting the other groups increasingly involved in gaming across platforms that they may not have considered using for gaming in the past."