It is no question that more and more people are adopting mobile games as a daily pastime. Smartphone users around the world are spending an increasing amount of time playing games and researchers have examined how that affects mental health. A recent survey revealed that almost half of respondents playing mobile games said it has benefited their mental health. Meanwhile, mobile gaming adoption has seen a surge in the U.S. and Canada last year. Learn more about mobile gaming in this week’s Mobile Monday!
Survey Respondents Believe Mobile Games Can Benefit Mental Health
A survey conducted by Jam City reveals how consumers feel about mobile games in regards to mental health. A PocketGamer report says that 44% of respondents said that playing games on their smartphones had improve their mood. Furthermore, 43% claimed that their mental health benefited. Parents in particular agree as 62% of them said they believe that mobile games had a positive impact on their mental health. Those surveyed also cited other benefits like problem solving skills (41%) and concentration (13%).
As we’ve reported before, the pandemic has increased downloads and activity in gaming apps. Jam City found that 72% of parents aged 24-to-39 and 54% of those in the 40-to-55 age group still play mobile games. Boomers, who are aged between 57 and 75, have also seen an increase in the amount of time spent playing mobile games. The national average for playing time is only up by 4%, while Boomers saw a jump of 28% since the start of the pandemic. The survey also says that 69% of respondents (both females and males) are playing mobile games more than they used to.
Mobile Gaming Sees Surge in the U.S. and Canada
According to The NPD Group’s Deconstructing Mobile & Tablet Gaming report, mobile gaming saw a significant surge across the United States and Canada in 2020. The collaboration with Sensor Tower found that there were approximately 304 million mobile users in the countries last year. 239 million of those users were playing games on mobile devices which is an increase of 12% year-over-year. Unsurprisingly, the pandemic has been highlighted as a driving force for the growth in gaming apps as citizens were forced to stay at home during lockdowns. As a result, people turned to mobile games as a means of entertainment.
Overall, 35% of gamers across the U.S. and Canada indicated that the coronavirus pandemic led to an increase in engagement. Moreover, the people that can be considered as an “active gamer” grew by 12%. The study also revealed that an individual player would play mobile titles for eight hours per week in 2020 on average, an increase for six hours spent weekly in 2019. In terms of age groups, those aged 45 and over, saw the largest growth in the number of mobile gamers with a rise of 17%. Meanwhile, 25 to 44-year-old players increased by 13%.
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