More than eight million people in the UK are now gaming on their mobile phones according to the UK National Gamers Survey 2009; that’s just over a quarter of all people playing videogames in the UK. Girls like killing time on their phones almost as much as boys it seems; 47% of the eight million mobile gamers are girls. We wonder what percentage of those girls is playing Bejeweled.
The current generation of phones lend themselves to gaming so well it’s not hugely surprising that its on the increase – touchscreens and internet access in particular lend themselves to it and app stores make it ridiculously easy to buy games even when you’re on the go.
Compare these stats, if you will, to figures released by Sport England – just under 7m adults aged 16+ participated in sport three times a week (2008 to 2009). For the mathematically challenged, that works out as one million fewer people playing regular sport than playing games on their phones.
Let’s put our imagination hats on and think about what this could mean – perhaps in the future we’ll have incredibly strong fingers and great eyesight but terrible posture, the attention span of a hyperactive puppy and be morbidly obese. Er, yes, the future. Now, where did I put my tennis racket…
[Image of Pete Sampras from efleming on flickr]
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