Phone Users Not Downloading Games, Still Like Tetris

Silicon Alley Insider points us to a report that says 22.3% of US folks are using their phones to play games – up 6% from last year – they’re just not downloading the games. Only 9% of US wireless subscribers played a game they’d downloaded to their phone in a month in the last quarter.

It could be that it’s the mobile industry that’s stopping any growth in mobile gaming by trying to make money at every turn rather than at point of entry. Silicon Alley Insider adds:

What could boost game download growth? Smartphones… That’s good news for game companies (and perhaps advertisers who will foot the bill for the games) but mixed news for carriers: Smartphone users aren’t locked into mobile operators’ start pages, or “decks,” where carriers have revenue-sharing deals with preferred game companies.

When smartphone users find “off-deck” games on their own, carriers are less likely to get any revenue kick-backs from game sales or in-game ads. But for now, they should be happy to sacrifice that (miniscule) lost revenue stream for the $15-$40 per month that smartphone owners pay for access to the mobile Web.

Alley Insider