The dominance of games played with a console system and TV is under assault by new mobile and social gaming. A third of Americans have a smartphone capable of playing addictive games such as Angry Birds, according to Nielsen. Nearly 20% play social-network games such as CityVille and FarmVille, NPD Group says. The rapid adoption rate of casual games now outpaces traditional console games, and U.S. spending is expected to exceed $3 billion this year, according to PricewaterhouseCoopers. Will stay-at-home console games be left in the dust? Not likely. For starters, console games still dominate, while mobile and social online games are a fringe of the $25 billion game industry. And this year, spending on console games is expected to grow an estimated 5% or more.
The average video game player is 37 years old; the average buyer of computer and video games is 41, according to Ipsos MediaCT research for the group. Women are 42% of gamers, up from 38% in 2007, while 29% of gamers are over the age of 50.
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