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Kids Prefer To Play Games On Mobile Devices Over Consoles
New submitter chloealsop writes: The NPD Group has published a report showing that more kids age 2-17 are playing games on phones and tablets than on consoles in the U.S.. 45 percent of kids use a home PC for gaming, a drop of 22 points since 2013. "The largest and most surprising shift in the 2015 gaming ecosystem was kids' move away from the computer," NPD Group analyst Liam Callahan said in a press release. "In the past, the computer was considered the entry point for gaming for most kids, but the game has changed now that mobile has moved into that position. This may be related to a change in the behavior of parents that are likely utilizing mobile devices for tasks that were once reserved for computers."
A bigger failure in logic is that kids 2-17 "choose" their gaming platform. As a parent, it is MY choice. I let my kids play with my iPad in the backseat, so they will shutup and let me drive. No way am I shelling out for a console.
PC gaming is a larger market than all other platforms... COMBINED.
The problem is that no one owns it and so big companies like to push the notion that the PC is shit. They talk about Xbox or PS4 or mobile and ignore that while there are lots of people that do that, it isn't where the meat and potatoes are of the gaming world.
Mobile gaming being the future? F'ing candy crush? Okay. Believe what you like there.
PS/Xbox is the future? Even industry insiders are saying that the consoles have maybe one or two more generations left in them at most.
The PC however... never been stronger. So by all means... keep shitting on it.
It makes about as much sense as those dumb shit articles that were saying that business was going to stop using desktop computers and shift entirely to web applications on phones and ipads. These are the sorts of comments you expect from people that don't actually know what they're talking about.
If you understand gaming then you understand that the PC dominates and you understand why.
If you understand office programs... word processors, spread sheets, databases... then you know the desktop PC isn't going anywhere.
The people that suggest otherwise are clueless media nitwits or lying through their teeth corporate trolls trying to get people to use their crippled systems where they can jack up costs for no reason.
Cue console peasants telling me why consoles are great... I'd love to hear you so much as try you filthy fucking animals.
I've decided to stop wasting my time responding to AC trolls/sockpuppets... so if you want a response from me... login.
Can't exactly bring the console to Red Lobster, but you can bring the phone. It's not really about what's a better platform - it's what's available when kids have time to fill or be entertained. This is a dumb post...
It is tough to play games on a PC.
I suspect as micropayments and other in-game purchase models become more common it might make more sense to make use of the TV built in to a lot of newer vehicles to do in-vehicle gaming with some kind of in-car console.
On the other hand I wonder if being able to fill every idle moment with some easily provided stimulus is not terribly good for us. I'm certainly not immune to seeking diversion myself, but having to figure out how to entertain myself by reflecting on my thoughts or my environment can be very calming and can help bring me back down to earth when I get too caught-up in things. For me, road trips and vacations to remote areas are a way to find that calm and to detach from my every day life for awhile, and have been since I was an adolescent.
Do not look into laser with remaining eye.
They don't prefer playing on mobile devices... they prefer watching others play on mobile devices!!!
Grandpa!!!
It's not surprising really - I'm a gamer and while I do still play games on the console and my PC my smartphone is just...convenient. The console requires sitting in front of the TV and not watching TV. Same with the PC (although a laptop is more flexible here if it's powerful enough for the game).
Portable games systems require carrying them along with you and while I've got a younger cousin that will carry both his smartphone and DS (and play games on his DS while watching Youtube videos on his phone) that's generally a hassle.
Smartphone? Always with me.
Also there's a crap ton of free/free-2-pay-more titles on mobile... kids don't have money, they go where it's free... huge leap in logic there. Also, no console tax.
console peasants telling me why consoles are great... I'd love to hear you so much as try
I've tried to sum up Team Peasant's strongest arguments in an article titled Consoles are easy. In case you don't want to click through, what consoles lose in flexibility they gain in ease:
Easy to choose For system requirements, either you have the platform or you don't. And there's less crap in the stores. Crap on Atari 2600 almost killed the North American video game industry in 1983-84. Easy to use Turn it on and go. No driver headaches. No time wasted mapping buttons on a USB/BT generic HID controller. Works offline without losing the offline mode credentials after a month. No mods means less chance of online cheating. Easy to afford One console, one TV, two extra controllers, and one copy of four $60 games is cheaper than three gaming PCs, three monitors, and three copies of four $40 games. Disc games mean no risk of hitting your ISP's cap.Also, no console tax.
Is the console tax really that much more than the 30 percent tax that Google, Amazon, and Apple charge in their respective app stores? No. In fact, it's exactly the same, as Apple announced an App Store with a 30 percent tax months after Microsoft announced Xbox Live Indie Games with a 30 percent tax.
Jeeze! Now I know why they always look cross-eyed... People are gonna look pretty weird in 40 years.
“He’s not deformed, he’s just drunk!”
Us techies always think it's about power or performance, but mobility is a transformative feature. Many people prioritize it over nearly every customer experience feature we can offer in products today. It's largely why Apple came to dominate smartphones. They offered the world's most mobile handheld computer first.
If I were Microsoft or Sony, I would be very worried. Most of my gaming time used to be on PC games. Then I progressed to consoles and now nearly all of my gaming time is on my iPad or iPhone with minimal laptop time for games not on iOS. Smart gaming companies are already pivoting into mobile gaming where the majority of the money is in the gaming industry.
As a parent, it is MY choice. I let my kids play with my iPad in the backseat, so they will shutup and let me drive
Sounds like they are choosing more than you think.
"First they came for the slanderers and i said nothing."
You just don't realize it. You're not anywhere near as in control as you think you are. Like it or not advertising works. Not always, but lot and lots of times. It's especially effective on kids. Out of spite you might personally block your kids from consoles if you become aware that it's the advertising that makes them interested, but if so you're very much in the minority. Your opinions, beliefs and desires were heavily shaped while you were young and vulnerable, and so are your kids. The advertisers are more interested in iPad games because they're cheaper to make and just as profitable as an aggregate whole. We'll all do as we say because as kids we literally can't think for ourselves. That's why in the 60s and 70s Mr Rogers and others fought against advertising directed at children, and it's also why they lost.
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Price is definitely a big factor. If my boys want a new console game, it will cost me around $60. A new tablet game, though, is usually under $1.99 if not totally free. I could buy my boys a new tablet game every two weeks for an entire year for less than the cost of one console game.
My sci-fi novel, Ghost Thief, is now available from Amazon.com.
Child labour laws don't prevent children from working and earning money, it just limits what they can do and how much they can work.
And until 16, that's pretty close to zero, even during summer vacation in jurisdictions that have one. I'll summarize the situation in Indiana:
So unless the parent teaches the child how to seek out those few jobs available to a child under 16, the child is out of luck. In fact, my parents actively discouraged me from such. Nor are children allowed to drive a car to and from work.
Also, don't you give your children an allowance?
A lot of parents restrict what their children can buy with an allowance. From a legal standpoint, they don't give the child an allowance as much as allocate an allowance to a trust benefiting the child. Besides, children don't own real estate in which to store a modern console. "My house, my rules."
I have a 5 year old and a 2 year old. The 2 year old is a Peppa Pig addict, but it's not just any old peppa pig. Oh noes, it's "I watch Piggies on daddies phone!" "no darling" "I watch Piggies on daddies tablet", then weirdly it is "I watch Piggies on daddies 'puter" and then finally once all other options have been attempted it will finally be "I watch piggies on tv in the lounge!"
The 5 year old given half a chance would be surgically attached to the tablet. Managing their screen time is something we have to do everyday, which is a little sad.
Children are not fully formed human beings.
You can't take the sky from me
A bigger failure in logic is that kids 2-17 "choose" their gaming platform. As a parent, it is MY choice. I let my kids play with my iPad in the backseat, so they will shutup and let me drive. No way am I shelling out for a console.
Not just that, my kid would play w/ anything that I used. Since I was generally on a PC, that's what he'd come after. After I got my phone, he used that, and when my ex-wife got her iPad, he went to that.
A better story is my sister's. When her son was born, she'd use one of the iPad Baby tunes apps to pacify him. Later, he got interested in the iPad, as did my niece. End result is that they already have a few years of practice on the iPad and the phones of their parents. Recently, my sister got a new Mac, and is getting them to practice on that. Point is that kids get a headstart on their parents' phones/tablets b4 they get a console.
Plus $25 a month for 24 months, maybe hidden in the plan or maybe not, depending on the plan.
If you are not allowed to question your government then the government has answered your question.