Older Gamers Willing to Pay to Play and Save Time

Mobile or other social computer video games are designed to hook player into playing longer by accumulating "wealth" whether it is to level up in an MMORPG or get gold or bigger farms.

This games are called "freemium games" by the industry, they are free to download and play, however in order level up quickly or gather goods there is a fee involved. A recent survey finds that players spend around $14 per transaction, and that older players are the ones fitting the bill.

"Gameplay is referred to as “the grind” because it takes time to progress. The Flurry Analytics survey reveals that younger players spend more time “grinding” away at games on their phones, but older players are less patient and will spend cash for quick rewards. This study used data from a sample of iOS and Android freemium games with over 20 million users across more than 1.4 billion sessions."

The survey shows that gamers from ages 13 to 34 equate to 80% of the smartphone game time. Young adults between ages 18 to 24 spent the most time gaming, which equaled 32% of the total time. The next age group, 25 to 34 time gaming dropped slight to 29%.

The difference with money split was much great with the older group. Nearly 50% of the 25 to 34 years reported to have spent real money on the freemium games, compared to only 16% of the younger group.

The younger group not surprisingly tends to have more time to play the game and less money to spend.

The older group tends to have more disposable income, but less time for gaming due to work and family demand. This combination make the older group less tolerant to spend the extra time to deal with "the grid" but are in a better position to buy their way out of it.

Please send me your comments and let me know if you agree or disagree with the statements above.