iPhone Apps Luring Gamers Away From Sony PSP and Nintendo DS Games
By Anna Johnson on April 3rd, 2010Videogame console makers such as Sony and Nintendo, along with their videogame developers, should be worried: gamers are increasingly moving away from console based videogames towards game apps for the iPhone and iPod Touch.
Mobile application analytics company Flurry estimates that, in 2009, $500 million worth of games were sold through Apple’s App Store in the U.S. up from $115 million in 2008. Games for the iPhone and iPod now equate to 5 percent of the U.S. console and portable videogame market. In addition, the 30,000+ games in the U.S. App Store make up an estimated 37 percent of its $1.36 billion in overall 2009 revenue.
According to Flurry, videogame consumers are specifically switching away from videogame consoles such as the Sony PSP and Nintendo DS in favour of iPhone and iPod Touch. Games for the iPhone OS grew from 5 percent of portable game revenues in 2008 to 19 percent in 2009, whilst the Sony PSP’s market share dropped from 20 percent to 11 percent and Nintendo DS’s share dropped from 75 percent to 70 percent.
