iOS To Be The Biggest Gaming Platform Ever By The End of 2012

[manigamer]

If you like video games you'd better also start liking touchscreen controls. If current trends continue by the end of this year there will be 200 million gamers on iOS, more than on any other gaming platform in the history of the medium.

And that has more implications than just having even more casual games around.

First the numbers. Tech blog Asymco broke out the data and found that currently the iOS platform has a rising number of gamers. They based this on two factors: OpenFeint accounts and Game Center accounts. Game Center accounts nearly doubled between September 2011 and June 2012 to 130 million, and OpenFeint accounts stood at 180 million before the company was acquired.

For a little contrast the best selling console of all time, the PlayStation 2, has moved 153 million units. Apple's on track to eclipse that by the time Halloween rolls around.

To be fair, it's pretty easy to turn around and point out that iOS users don't care that much about gaming: 130 million Game Center accounts means about a third of iOS users have bothered to set one up. And it doesn't translate out to heavy game sales: games supported by advertisting or free-to-play models are very prevalent on iOS after all.

On the other hand we've also seen repeatedly this quarter that companies like Sega and Capcom are doing better in the mobile space than on consoles. And the more users they see in that space the less tempting consoles may become.

Asymco: Measuring the iOS as a Gaming Platform

[Druid]

seriously doubt that...... most of its games r just for passing time in waiting room etc

[Bad Mofo]

People buy a lot of those iOS games. And some of them are actually decent. Infinity Blade was a revelation, not only was it a good touchscreen game, it was a good game on any control scheme. Plus it's getting serious with stuff like Baldur's Gate EE.

[hasanJ]

Zyada hogaya hai

[AsadAbrar]

Not a really surprising news. It's selling like hot cakes due to iPhone, iPod touch and iPad being a shokhi and casual games. Casual games like angry birds have made these devices a hit.

I'm waiting for some more hardcore games.


Sent from my iPod Touch via Tapatalk.

[Spiderman3000]

blahhh I have yet to see an iPhone game which has a story even COMPARABLE to the final fantasy storylines and its gonna be the biggest gaming platform? Yeah. Maybe for noobs. Not for us gamers who play games for the story and not just time wasting

[Ottoman]

Hardly surprising. Casual gamers easily outnumber the hardcore ones, and will always do.

[MegamanEXE]

Pffft, never. Mobile games are just time pass when you're waiting for something. They do not have the same meaning as those PC/Xbox/PS3 games which truly are 'real' games.

[DarkLordMalik]

The Biggest Gaming Platform for sure but with games that hardly interest anyone for more than a couple of minutes.

[Shary Bhallu TC]

There is lots of potential for amazing games on iOS due to its HUGE gaming market.

Sadly its filled with pointless platformers. Need more games like GTA 3, Dead Space, and not just copy paste of old games, it needs new original games for 20 to 30$. Its time the iOS market adopted big ass games selling for 20-30$ for itself.