The days of gaming as a hobby only for young people are clearly over. Unlike in the past, gamers are now sticking with console and PC games into adulthood and old age. Consumers aged 55+ account for almost...
It is tempting to assume that older gamers exclusively play low-fidelity games on their smartphones. This is simply untrue.
While mobile is certainly the biggest part of the games market in terms of revenues, 55+ gamers account for 23% of monthly PC gamers and 11% of monthly console gamers.
Why is it bad? The divide between people who play games on the phone and "real gamers" seems mostly cultural. From a research and financial perspective, there's no reason to treat them any differently. Dollars are dollars, regardless of what platform they get spent on.
Mobile games are (mostly) pretty linear micro transaction hellscapes. But that is my opinion.
And I fully agree they (mobile games) have their market, which is fine for the people that play them. People can sit on the couch or on their commute and play some levels and spend the time.
The PC and console games are much more complex to create and draw in a completely different player base. It is more of a destination sort of speak.
Tossing these 2 on one pile means it is less clear how each of the markets are developing.