The mobile phone is a shopping medium that is characterized by spontaneity of purchases, with 81% purchases being spontaneous vs. 19% planned. This information gives us an idea of what kind of products are consumed or bought via the smartphone. Nobody tends to make a large transaction on a whim, instead, people tend to make large purchases after serious consideration. However, people are more prone to make small purchases spontaneously: downloading apps, in-app payments or Premium accounts are an example of unplanned purchases that are made regularly.
With this context in place there is a sector that stands out above the rest: video games. Who hasn’t been "hooked" on a free game and ended up paying to unlock a new screen, a weapon or a car? The data speaks for itself, since it is a business that has grown 240% since 2008 and it is estimated to earn more than 1 billion dollars on mobile devices by 2015. In fact, 76 of the top 100 grossing apps in the App Store are games.
The question at that point is, Who is generating these revenues? Gamers? The answer is simple, everybody. My mother plays with her smartphone and she never has touched a console. Being a micromoments device, mobile games fit themselves to this behavior, they become faster, simple and shorter game sessions. But is this boom in smartphones and tablets doing some damage to the traditional video game industry? The truth is that yes, it is, especially to the portable console sector. Portable consoles were knocked down from their privileged position in 2013, when mobile games tripled in revenue compared to handheld game consoles.
In Spain in 2011 videogames spending on video games exceeded 980 million euros (source Gfk), which includes the software, hardware and peripherals. Video game consoles (PS3, PS4, Xbox, Wii, etc) remain the preferred choice for the "hardcore" gamers today and still rule the market. Large video game companies are not blind to the growth of the mobile medium and are committed fully to advertising, a medium which gives them the possibility of reaching potential customers and provide customers with downloads of the mobile versions of games.
