Portable gaming: Is mobile the future?

gaming by type

With the smartphone penetration rate climbing, users are increasingly turning to mobile apps to get their gaming fix instead of portable gaming titles for the Nintendo DS or Sony PSP. In 2009, Nintendo DS titles claimed 70 percent of the market, with Sony PSP titles claiming another 11 percent; mobile games for iOS and Android combined only totaled 19 percent. Two years later, mobile app analytics firm Flurry estimated that at the end of 2011, Android and iOS would control 58 percent of the entire portable gaming software market, leaving Nintendo with a 36 percent share and Sony with only 6 percent. Both Nintendo and Sony design consoles as well as games, and have thus far avoided moving into the mobile space. After all, designing games for the Android Market or Apple App Store would dissuade users from purchasing their console devices. But will they be able to ignore the mobile market forever? Feature