Smartphone mobile gaming soaring as regular phones drop out

Mobile gaming is more than ever a tale of two devices: feature phones and smartphones. The U.S. population playing games on regular mobile phones fell by 35% last year to 29.5 million, while the number of smartphone gamers shot up 60% to 21.4 million, according to a new comScore study. The mobile gaming audience overall has dropped 13% to 51 million.

The dramatic shift in mobile gaming toward smartphones underscores both the proliferation of high-end devices and how critical a platform they have become for both casual and serious gamers. The iPhone alone last year accounted for 5% of U.S. video game sales, or about $500 million, according to a recent study from mobile analytics firm Flurry.

via MediaPost Publications Mobile Gaming Soars On Smartphones 04/16/2010.