Although set to remain a niche market, mobile gaming will continue its rise as a generator of wireless data usage and revenue, new research has claimed.
Analyst In-Stat/MDR said that mobile gaming services in the US will generate $1.8bn annually by 2009, or approximately 4.4 per cent of total wireless data revenues.
Additionally, by 2009, 78.6 million wireless subscribers in the US will play mobile games, and gaming downloads will increase more than tenfold from 2003 levels.
"Mobile gaming has come a long way since 'Snake' was first deployed on wireless handsets in 1997," said In-Stat/MDR's director of wireless research, Clint Wheelock, in a statement.
In-Stat/MDR's Consumer Mobility Study reported that 6.5 per cent of US wireless subscribers are 'extremely' or 'very' interested in purchasing mobile gaming services.
Wheelock suggested that this level of interest clearly identifies mobile gaming as a niche opportunity for wireless carriers, application developers and content producers.
The research firm also found that, unlike other emerging mobile multimedia services such as video and music, consumers interested in mobile gaming do not necessarily match the classic early adopter profile.
Instead, consumers interested in mobile gaming are likely to already be wireless data users who own handsets with colour displays, cameraphone functionality and multimedia capabilities.
On average, they were found to be younger and more likely to be male than the general wireless subscriber base.
Additionally, the In-Stat/MDR study noted that mobile gaming users already play games for an average of 5.1 hours per week on various devices in the home, including PCs, games consoles and handhelds.
The most popular mobile gaming genre was found to be single-player board, puzzle and word games.