News: Mobile phone gaming encroaching on handhelds

According to Gamespot, a recent survey conducted by research firm Interpret LLC found that although the number of handheld gamers around the world are increasing, the number of mobile phone players is quickly catching up.

The report stated that smartphone gaming is starting to gain ground against traditional handheld gaming systems such as Sony's PSP and Nintendo's DS.

Interpret's research determined that roughly 12 million players gamed exclusively on smartphones during Q2 of 2010, up from 7.4 million for the same period last year. The PSP and DS on the other hand had a larger market share, sporting 21.5 million players, but only showed slight growth from last year's 21 million players.

An increase was also found in the number of people who game on both traditional handhelds and smartphones, with the number jumping from 3.5 million in 2009 to 4.7 million for this year. The research firm based its findings on a demographically representative survey of 9000 consumers aged between 12 and 65 years old.

The report stated that, “While numbers of PSP/DS gamers have remained relatively stable, the explosive proportional growth of the phone gaming market could signal a potentially significant threat to or even coup of the reigning handheld sovereigns: Sony and Nintendo."

It remains to be seen how true the findings will hold, but it definitely seems viable for smartphones to overtake dedicated mobile gaming systems. It is now up to Sony and Nintendo to keep themselves in the game by creating devices such as the rumoured PlayStation Phone which will combine phone and premium gaming functionality in a single device.

Mobile phone gaming encroaching on handhelds

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