She Got Game?

Traditionally, males are more likely than females to be game players, and though neither gender is downloading mobile games in massive numbers, recent data suggests that men are about twice as likely to be downloaders.

A new report released by the Yankee Group indicated that 8% of men surveyed in Western Europe downloaded games to their mobile phones on a monthly basis, compared to 5% of women. However, about 16% of both genders have downloaded a game on a less frequent basis. More than three-quarters of mobile phone subscribers, male and female, have never downloaded a game.



A May 2005 report from M:Metrics found that 4.4% of US men had downloaded a game, compared to 2.3% of US women, though women played games just as much as men. But a recent study from Telephia found that females accounted for three-fifths of the 3.5% of mobile phone users who had purchased a game for their handset between February and May 2005.



In any case, there is a marked difference between mobile gaming and console or computer gaming, where males dominate in playing time and purchasing.

One factor is the limited technology of phones, which encourages simpler puzzle, quiz or basic arcade games, which tend to be more appealing to women. Action, fighting, first-person shooter or sports games, which tend to be men's preference, dominate the larger console market. In mobile applications these games require more sophisticated handsets.

Yankee Group points out that although the many of the most popular games are ones like Tetris or "Who Wants To Be A Millionaire?" the focus in gaming has been on console spin-offs like Tomb Raider or Tom Clancy's Splinter Cell.

For an in-depth look at the mobile market, read eMarketer's Mobile Marketing and M-Commerce report.