A third of mobile games paid for and downloaded by users in the UK fail to work owing to compatibility issues, according to mobile application developer GetJar.

Figures from research group GfK suggest that the UK mobile gaming market was worth £83m in 2006 and 2007.

But GetJar claimed that over £29m is being spent annually by UK consumers on games that they never get to play.

The company blamed insufficient compatibility testing for the high failure rate, and believes that the problem will get worse unless developers place greater emphasis on compatibility.

"This is an important challenge for the mobile entertainment industry, for developers and for the operators which supply the vast majority of games in the UK," said Ilja Laurs, founder and chief executive at GetJar.

"By bringing more detailed testing into the development process developers and carriers could iron out many of the compatibility issues without having a negative impact on development process or costs."

Only 15 per cent of gamers surveyed said that games they had paid for always worked.

"It is our experience that users tend to blame themselves for a compatibility failure and therefore do not actively pursue a refund," said Laurs.

Many respondents said that the relatively low cost of each download compared with the effort involved made it seem silly to request a refund.