Mobile gaming is now bigger than both personal computer and console gaming.

In fact, according to a report from games marketing intelligence company Newzoo, smartphone and tablet gaming accounted for 42 percent of total gaming revenues in 2017.

CGTN’s Mark Niu reports.

Whether by tablet or phone, mobile is now the leading choice for gaming enthusiasts of all ages.

“Today games represent roughly 80 cents of every dollar spent in app stores,” Danielle Levitas, senior vice president for Research & Marketing at App Annie said. “So when you start to think about the fact that roughly $86 billion was spent across all mobile app stores, you are talking about games continuing to dominate.”

Founded in Beijing and now headquartered in San Francisco, App Annie provides of data and planning for mobile publishers.

Levitas said one of the trends that’s given mobile gaming a big boost is the Battle Royale genre — where hundreds of gamers can meet simultaneously and duke it out ‘till the end.

“I think there was an assumption that it doesn’t work on mobile, the screen is too small even with large phones and that it wouldn’t translate,” said Levitas. “And I think what we’ve seen is that there is an appetitive to potentially supplement what we do on the game console and on the PC when we are on the go.”

App makers are also creatively finding new ways to get people hooked.

We met 10-year-old avid gamer Ben, who plays Madden NFL every day on his mom’s iPhone.

“The game I play, it gives you rewards when you play daily so I usually play quite a bit a day,” said Ben.

Another trend that has increased mobile gaming ad revenue is rewarded video—where players watch an advertisement and in return get points or rewards.

App Annie’s Levitas said the dollar amount spent on mobile games is now about three and a half times greater than console games.

“The gap has only continued to widen with mobile and I think it has everything to do with the fact that you have an install base of well over 3.5 billion people,” said Levitas. “It just makes it an incredibly powerful platform.”

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