80 Percent Of Mobile Gamers Don’t Fully Engage When Playing, Study Shows

The gaming world is rife with debates about a myriad of topics. From whether the Microsoft-Activision deal should go through, to debating if talking guns are annoying or not, it’s a common thing. But, probably the longest-ranging debate has been the one concerning mobile gaming and its place in the industry.

Many don’t consider it a real form of gaming even with mobile games like Genshing Impact raking in billions. Now, new research has provided some substance to the mobile gaming naysayers with numbers. Apparently, only 20% of mobile gamers are actually engaged while playing on mobile, the rest 80% are multitasking.

Major Takeaways

• Only 20% of mobile gamers actually focus on playing according to a new study.
• The rest go through social media, watch TV or listen to music and the USA has the most playtime among mobile gamers. 
• Singapore has the highest proportion of engaged mobile gamers, while the UK has the highest proportion of mobile gamers.

LoopMe conducted this research and studied mobile gamers from countries like the US, the UK, and Singapore. PocketGamer brought this research to the attention of the masses through an article. The results of this study are interesting to say the very least.

Among the 18,340 people participating in the survey, 62 percent played games on their mobile devices. Such a high proportion is impressive and the UK leads the way with 66% of its people gaming on mobile. In the USA, 64% of people game on their phones, while only 57% in Singapore are involved in this practice.

The study found that in general, 34% of the participants in the research play mobile games two to four times a day. 31% played games on their mobile phones in more than five instances a day. Players from the UK had the most people in the 2-to-4 bracket at 38%, with the US leading in the 5-times-plus statistic.

In the study, we also find out the playtime of the average mobile players. America had the highest percentage of game time with 17% of the players from the country, playing for 5 hours or more. Singapore sits at 2nd in this list with only 16% playing this long while the UK is last as only 14% here play for 5 hours or more. 

According to the study, 38% of the general participants played for just one or two hours a day. Only, 15% of the overall players in the research spent more than five hours a day playing mobile games. These are rookie numbers in the gaming community, but this isn’t even the most interesting part of the study.

When you look from the lens of people outside the gaming world, such numbers aren’t bad considering the length of mobile games. However, only 20% of the people taking part in the study were actually focusing on mobile games while playing. PocketGamer reports that 80% of the players were multitasking and doing other things. 

Most of the subjects in the study were watching television while playing mobile games. Americans unsurprisingly lead the way in this with 52%, with British gamers just a bit behind at 48%. Players from Singapore have a lot of focus as only 28% of them watched TV while playing mobile titles.

A huge proportion of the 80% distracted individuals in the research choose TV over anything else. No other form of media was successful in distracting over 20% of the participants from playing mobile games. Only Singapore got to this average with 20% checking social media while the other 23% were listening to music. 

Hence, it seems like Netflix is the main backdrop for mobile gamers when playing. Singapore had the most participants which did nothing else but play games. Meaning that the players from there are bigger fans of mobile games than their US and UK counterparts.

Another stat in the study proves Singapore’s dedication to mobile games. It had the highest amount of people playing mobile games while doing work. The UK and the US were way behind with only 6% and 4% respectively playing games while on duty. 

Most of the people in the two countries play in their free time with the UK at 63% and the US at 60%. Singapore ranks lowest with only 48% playing in their break, much lower than the general percentage of 57%. Hence another part of this study proves that mobile gaming is a much bigger deal in Singapore than in the US or UK.

One other interesting tidbit is that most commuters from the US and the UK prefer to play in their free time. So, other forms of entertainment like social media help them pass their work time. This study has provided us with some really interesting info and everyone is free to draw their conclusions.